How the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Tried in 1994 to Prevent the 2022 War in Ukraine

Abstract

The author served as Legal Expert in Ukraine in 1994-95 as part of an effort by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to forge an autonomy status for Crimea. The OSCE work was part of its broader effort, in territories newly independent upon the breakup of the USSR, to ensure protection for inhabitants of Russian origin. Crimea’s population is predominantly Russian, and Crimea was part of Russia from tsarist times, having become connected to Ukraine administratively only mid-twentieth century. In the event, Ukraine did not grant substantial autonomy to Crimea. In this Article, the author gives a first-hand account of the 1994-95 OSCE effort and speculates whether, had it been successful, post-2014 hostilities in the Donbas might have been averted, and the 2022 war as well.

Keywords: autonomy, self-determination, territorial integrity, minority protection