ABSTRACT
The potential for ethnic tensions in Ukraine is obvious. There are multiple ethnic groups in Ukraine, with one group, the Russians, comprising about 20% of the population. The largest ethnic group, the Russians, is scattered throughout Ukraine, although the heaviest concentration of settlement is in the eastern and southern regions. In Ukraine, the 1960s witnessed an increase in demands both within and outside the Communist Party for a change in linguistic policy. In the 1980s, the cause was taken up by the Union of Writers of Ukraine. There was “no real alternative” to Kravchuk wrote the newspaper Uriadovii Kur’er. A petition was started by the Communist and Socialist parties of Ukraine together with the Civic Congress of Ukraine to hold a referendum on a new political, economic and military union with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Ukraine faces numerous problems as it attempts to create a viable state, both politically and economically.
