The Ural Republic of 1993 in the discourse of the scientific community

The phenomenon of the Ural Republic, organized by the governor Eduard Rossel in 1993 based on Sverdlovsk Oblast, played a huge role in the formation and development of Russian federalism. This story is still of great interest to researchers of Russia's modern history. The article undertakes a historiographical analysis of domestic and foreign literature on the history of the Ural Republic. Several groups of researchers have been identified, in accordance with their belonging to various branches of scientific knowledge: political scientists, jurists, historians, philologists, culturologists. They highlight several theses that reveal the reasons why the Urals became the venue for such an unusual “secessionist” experiment. On the one hand, the local elites retained a connection, including an ideological one, with the reformist team of the former regional leader Boris Yeltsin, counting on his support in promoting reforms on the ground. On the other hand, a peculiar Ural identity played its role, the existence of which a few researchers insist on. In any case, regional originality was present, inspired by the experience of the first president of Russia. Most researchers note that the reasons that prompted the local elites to create the Ural Republic were quite pragmatic. First of all, this was an established trend in the development of separatist sentiments in the country, at the time of the weakening of the central government. The most striking examples here are Chechnya and Tatarstan. One of the most important is the “foralistic” nature (legal imbalance that prevailed at that time) of the regions of Russia, which required compensation. Such demands were caused by the deterioration of the economic situation during the ongoing radical reforms. Sverdlovsk Oblast as a donor region demanded a fair distribution of resources. The Ural Republic, which existed, according to different estimates, from a week to several months, was liquidated for several reasons. Sverdlovsk elites, Gennady Burbulis personally, lost their influence on the president at that moment. But a much more significant factor was the strong concern of the Kremlin elites about the political instability in the country associated with the conflict between the president and the Supreme Soviet of Russia, as well as the threat of the collapse of the state, most clearly manifested in Chechnya. The consequences of the Ural experiment are positively assessed by most researchers of this problem. Despite the tense dialogue between the parties, it is very important that it took place. The Ural elites managed to convey to the federal center an understanding of the need for equal rights for the regions, which made it possible to create a more stable model of the federation.

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