Historical background of the Russo-Ukrainian War

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Ukrainians and Russians have a long history of interactions and mutual influences, which is often used to explain and also to justify the Russo-Ukrainian War.

Kievan Rus'[edit]

Ukrainians and Russians both see the Kievan Rus' as the place where the history of their nations, states, and Orthodox churches originated.[1] After the Mongol invasion, those parts of Rus' that would later become Ukraine came under the control of Lithuania and Poland, while the north-east around the emerging centre of Moscow was under Mongol control. Historian Serhii Plokhy agrees that Russian religion, written language and arts, system of laws and ruling dynasty originated in Kyiv. He points out however that linking Russian ethnicity, spoken language and culture to those of Kyiv is "problematic".[2] Both the princes of Lithuania and of Muscovy claimed to be Princes of all Rus'.[3] The legal and bureaucratic traditions of the Kievan Rus' were inherited by Lithuania, but not by Muscovy,[4] where a new legal system centered on a very powerful tsar was being developed.[5][6]

According to the Russian national narrative, the Russian state was founded in Kiev / Kyiv, then - in the 13th century - its centre was transferred to the principality of Vladimir-Suzdal and soon afterwards, its center was transferred to Moscow.[7] This narrative of a common history of state, people and church spanning more than 1000 years is still prevalent in Russia today. It includes the notion that Ukrainians are a part of the Russian people, having no history of their own.[8]

On the other hand, Mykhailo Hrushevsky, the founder of modern Ukrainian historiography,[9] claimed the legacy of the Rus' exclusively for Ukraine, arguing in an essay published 1904 that the true successor state of the Rus' was not Vladimir-Suzdal, but Galicia–Volhynia which passed on the legacy to Poland and Lithuania.[10]

On the occasion of the milennial of the death of prince Vladimir the Great of Kiev (as the Russians call him) or Volodymyr the Great of Kyiv (as the Ukrainians call him) in 2015, the presidents of Russia and of Ukraine both claimed the legacy of the Kievan Rus' exclusively for their own people. Vladimir Putin said that Vladimir "cleared the way for the establishment of a strong, centralized Russian state",[11] while his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko quoted Hrushevsky's formula of the "Kyivan Rus-Ukraine".[12]

Pereiaslav Agreement[edit]

Russian historian Nikolay Ustryalov (1805 – 1870) created the myth that the 1654 Pereiaslav Agreement meant the "reunification" of the "Little Russian" and "Great Russian" people.[13]

Soviet Ukraine[edit]

Starved peasants on a street in Kharkiv, 1933

The politics of Joseph Stalin's government brought about a catastrophic famine in 1932–33. Estimates range from 6 to 7 million dead, among them about 3.5 million Ukrainians and 1.5 million Kazakhs.[14] There is an ongoing debate as to whether the famine—called Holodomor in Ukraine—can be labelled as a genocide.[15]

Independent Ukraine[edit]

The 2011–2013 Russian protests which were sparked by election fraud in a similar way as Ukraine's Orange Revolution, increased Russian president Vladimir Putin's fear of being deposed by a colour revolution.[16]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Kappeler, Russians and Ukrainians p.29
  2. ^ Plokhy, Russo-Ukrainian War p. 20[1]
  3. ^ Snyder, Muscovite Power 19–31 minutes in
  4. ^ Snyder, Muscovite Power 32 minutes in
  5. ^ Snyder, Muscovite Power 32–33 minutes in
  6. ^ Kappeler, Russian History p. 49–51
  7. ^ Kappeler, Russian History p. 29
  8. ^ Kappeler, Russian History p. 31
  9. ^ Plokhy, Gates of Europe p. xx
  10. ^ Kappeler, Russian History p. 32
  11. ^ Kappeler, Unequal Brothers p. 35, quoted from: Ivan Nechepurenko (28 July 2015). "Moscow, Kiev Grapple With Historic Ties to Prince Vladimir". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
  12. ^ Kappeler, Unequal Brothers p. 35, quoted from: "Із прийняттям християнства Володимир визначив європейський напрямок України" [With the adoption of Christianity, Volodymyr defined the European direction of Ukraine] (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 16 July 2024.
  13. ^ Kappeler, Russians and Ukrainians p.31
  14. ^ Kappeler, Russians and Ukrainians p.167–168
  15. ^ Kappeler, Russians and Ukrainians p.168 "Der weit überproportionale Anteil an ukrainischen Opfern wirft die Frage auf, ob die sowjetische Führung mit der von ihr herbeigeführten Hungersnot nicht nur allgemein die Bauern, sondern spezifisch die ukrainischen Bauern und damit die Basis der ukrainischen Nation treffen wollte." [The vastly disproportionate number of Ukrainian victims raises the question whether the Soviet leadership was targeting not just the peasants in general with the famine it caused, but specifically the Ukrainian peasants and thereby the foundations of the Ukrainian nation.]
  16. ^ Kappeler, Russians and Ukrainians p.229

Bibliography[edit]


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