Word: kazakhs
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Sergei Krikalev got more than he bargained for when he rocketed into space last May from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, located in what was then still known as the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. Krikalev was scheduled for a five-month stint as flight engineer aboard the Mir space station; his replacement was slated to arrive in October. Who could have foreseen that Krikalev's country would disintegrate before his mission was over? By the time October rolled around, the Baikonur facility was on the verge of belonging to Kazakhstan , rather than the Soviet Union. As a public relations measure, space-program...
They are not expecting any dramatic improvements either when the red hammer- and-sickle flag is lowered over the Kremlin, giving way to Russia's white- blue- and-red banner, and Gorbachev finally steps down as Soviet President. Both might happen momentarily. Meeting Saturday in the Kazakh capital of Alma- Ata, presidents of 11 former Soviet republics -- only Georgia was absent -- signed documents formally creating a Commonwealth of Independent States to succeed the U.S.S.R. and settled some of the last details. For example, they agreed to form a military council to exercise unified control of the armed services...
Only one man could bring the four predominantly Muslim republics of Central Asia into the commonwealth: Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. But he is not likely to be bought easily. Irritated that he had not been consulted by the three Slavic republics, he initially sided with Mikhail Gorbachev, arguing that the President "has not yet exhausted his possibilities." By week's end he agreed to join the commonwealth -- provided that Kazakhstan would be recognized as a co-founder...
...hindsight, even the timing seems screamingly obvious. Gorbachev had designated Tuesday, Aug. 20, for the ceremonial signing of a new union treaty with the presidents of the Russian and Kazakh republics; other republics were expected to sign later. The treaty would transfer so many powers -- over taxes, natural resources, even the state security apparatus -- to the republics as to make restoring ironfisted Kremlin control of the whole country impossible. Moreover, a new national Cabinet would have been named by representatives of the republics. Some of the eventual coup leaders, including KGB chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov, Defense Minister Dmitri Yazov and Interior...