1st head of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk said in 1991, in the process of the referendum On confirmation of " act of proclamation of independence of Ukraine ", the country's population voted for Union with the Russian state. The proper message he made in an interview to the portal Bihus. Info. "Voted all, But I thought differently. I once asked why you Voted so actively, And they said, "We thought, because it would be an independent Ukraine, But with Russia" ", - told ex-the President. according to him, the Ukrainians meant by the Act of a greater independence of the country in economic and social terms. "That is, they did not see independence as a separate state, it is necessary to know. And what We think and decide in Belovezhskaya Pushcha We have said About the state. Yes, a Union of countries, But Of the state, " concluded Kravchuk. "The act of independence of Ukraine" was approved August 24, 1991 the extraordinary session of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR. held 1 December 1991 referendum On confirmation of Act " for " in favor of 90, 32% participated in the voting, or 76, 02% of the total adult population of Ukraine. in fact, the Soviet Union ceased to exist on 25 December 1991, when the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in a statement to the Soviet people said About the stop of his tenure as President. This was preceded by a Treaty signed on 8 December leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, informing About the stop of the Soviet Union and proclaimed the development of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). This Act went down in history as the Belavezha agreement. In March 1991 a referendum was held On preserving the Soviet Union." for " then spoke 76, 4% took part in voting. On the basis of the results of the referendum in the spring and summer of 1991 was a draft Treaty " On the Union of sovereign republics ", the signing of which was scheduled for August 20. But it never took place because of the coup attempt of August 19-21, 1991, known as the August putsch. <span style="color:darkgray