Political Situation in Lugansk

This document is a press report from October 31, 1990, detailing the volatile political climate in Lugansk, Ukrainian SSR. The report describes a city divided between the conservative Oblast Party Committee and the democratic City Soviet. The author, S. Kiselev, notes that the population is largely disillusioned, with only a small percentage supporting the Communist Party (CPSU) or new political parties. The text highlights the intense conflict between the 'Rukh' movement (Ukrainian People's Movement for Perestroika) and the CPSU, noting that both sides are engaged in a struggle for power that threatens to lead to civil unrest, riots, or military intervention. The report also touches upon economic tensions, specifically the miners' strikes and the public's reaction to market reforms. A significant portion of the text discusses the sudden emergence of a movement for territorial autonomy in Lugansk, with proponents citing the historical precedent of the Donetsk-Krivorog Soviet Republic of 1918. The document includes perspectives from local figures such as V. Cheker and Yu. Kozovskiy, who discuss the potential for Lugansk to seek autonomy within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) if a new union treaty is not signed. The mention of a 'UFO' in the text is used metaphorically to describe the sudden, unexpected appearance of the autonomy movement, rather than referring to an aerial phenomenon.