Post-Soviet transition in Ukraine Post-Soviet transition in Ukraine The post-Soviet transition in Ukraine was established following the country's independence in 1991 up until the adoption of its constitution in 1996. Ukraine's territory (including the Crimean Peninsula) was the same as that of the Ukrainian SSR with a land area of about 603,700 km. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was one of the founding states of the Soviet Union (USSR). In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became head of state of the USSR and introduced a number of policies, such as the perestroika and glasnost. Instead of saving the Soviet regime, the reforms triggered a number of
Mikhail Gorbachev Crimea in March 2014: "While Crimea had previously been joined to Ukraine [in 1954] based on the Soviet laws, which means [Communist] party laws, without asking the people, now the people themselves have decided to correct that mistake." On 10 October 2014, it was reported that Gorbachev was in hospital and in deteriorating health. However, on 16 October he granted an interview with Russian state newspaper "Rossiyskaya Gazeta", opining on the Ukraine crisis and calling for a repeal of the sanctions. On 8 November 2014, Gorbachev attended an event near the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin to mark 25 years since the