In 1990, against the backdrop of political and economic crisis in the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin, chairman of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet and leader of the reformist forces, made a famous statement, inviting Russia’s regions to “take as much sovereignty as you can swallow.” This phrase became the starting point for a mass movement toward autonomy in the republics and autonomous districts, which ultimately led to profound changes in the political structure of Russia and the Soviet Union.
Context and Background
In 1990 the USSR was in deep crisis. Amid economic troubles and shortages of goods, political tensions between the union republics and the center were deepening. The regions were increasingly demanding greater autonomy, and national movements were gaining strength. Under these conditions, Boris Yeltsin, then representing the RSFSR in opposition to the union authorities, sought support among regional elites and populations for whom greater self-governance mattered.
The Visit to Bashkiria and the Sovereignty Statement
On August 6, 1990, while visiting Ufa, the capital of Bashkiria, Yeltsin made his landmark statement: “Take as much sovereignty as you can swallow.” This phrase became a symbol of a new approach to decentralizing power in Russia, one that offered the regions within the RSFSR greater independence. The statement came against a backdrop of growing demands from the republics to revise their relations with the central government in Moscow and to seek new models of governance.
By making the statement while in Bashkiria — one of the RSFSR’s autonomous republics — Yeltsin confirmed his support for the regions’ aspirations toward greater independence and autonomy. He called on the regions and autonomous entities within the RSFSR — Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Chechnya, Yakutia, and others — to take responsibility for their own political and economic decisions. This appeal was also aimed at weakening union structures’ control over the RSFSR and strengthening the position of the Russian Federation itself.
The Regions’ Response and the Consequences
After Yeltsin’s statement, a wave of sovereignty declarations and demands for the redistribution of powers swept through the regions. On August 30, 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Tatar ASSR adopted a Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Tatar SSR. Unlike some union republics and almost all other autonomous Russian republics (except Checheno-Ingushetia), the declaration did not directly state that the republic belonged to either the RSFSR or the USSR, and it announced that the Constitution and laws of the Tatar SSR held supremacy throughout its territory. The Bashkir ASSR, where this whole impulse had begun, also declared its intention to revise its relations with Moscow.
Attempts to formalize a new model of relations between Moscow and the regions led to the signing of the Federal Treaty in 1992. This treaty established varying levels of autonomy and secured the right of republics and autonomous districts to make their own decisions in economic, cultural, and social matters. However, it also laid the groundwork for future conflicts, since not all regions accepted the proposed terms. Chechnya, for example, refused to sign the treaty, which later contributed to the First Chechen War in 1994.
Conclusion
Boris Yeltsin’s call in Bashkiria in August 1990 to “take as much sovereignty as you can swallow” became an important political step that had a serious impact on the further development of the Russian Federation and the collapse of the Soviet Union. On the one hand, this step encouraged the expansion of regional autonomy and contributed to decentralization. On the other, it laid the groundwork for political crises and conflicts that Russia would go on resolving for many years to come.