| Type | Weeklynewspaper |
|---|---|
| Editor | Vitaly Shulgin,Dmitry Pikhno,Vasily Shulgin |
| Founded | 1864 |
| Ceased publication | 1919 |
| Political alignment | conservative, nationalist |
| Language | Russian |
| Headquarters | Kiev,Russian Empire |
| Circulation | 70 thousand (1919) |
Kievlyanin (Russian:Кіевлянинъ) was a conservative Russian newspaper, published inKiev in 1864–1919.[1][2]
The newspaper was labelingUkrainians as "Mazepinists" (precursor ofBanderites).[3] Ukrainian poet and statesmanPavlo Tychyna considered the publishing as "chauvinistic".[4]
Kievlyanin was launched by the Russian Empire'sSouthwestern Krai administration, admittedly with a view to promoting therussification of the region. This newspaper's credo: "This is the Russian, Russian, Russian land!" was stated in its very first issue by the paper's original editor, theKiev University professor Vitaly Shulgin.
After Shulgin's deathDmitry Pikhno took over in 1879. The newspaper (which prior to that was coming out three times a week) became a daily; now it appealed to the liberals as well as theRussian nationalists and featured a fine literary section.Alexander Kuprin choseKievlyanin for serializing his 1898Olesya novelet in it. The respectable theatre critic Izmail Alexandrovsky published there regularly, under the pen name Iz. Alsky.[2]
During and after the1905 Revolution Kievlyanin's position shifted to the right; Vitaly Shulgin's stepsonVasily became one of the key contributors and most of its leaders were now members of theKiev Club of Russian Nationalists, theAll-Russian National Union or theUnion of the Russian People.
In September 1913Vasily Shulgin becameKievlyanin's editor-in-chief, and the newspaper started to drift towards the so-called 'progressive nationalists' group led byAnatoly Savenko. It severed ties with the Russian ultra-nationalists who were now accusing the publication of being 'pro-Jewish' and anti-Monarchist. Indeed, unlike all the pro-Monarchist publications,Kievlyanin managed to survive theFebruary Revolution and was closed only in February 1918, as the Ukrainian separatists took over theCentral Rada. Shulgin made an attempt to move the publication to theDon region, but theWhite Army generalMikhail Alekseyev refused to support it.[5]
TheCentral Powers intervention prompted Shulgin to stop the publication in protest, even if the German occupational authorities asked him to continue. He revived it in the autumn of 1919 after theVolunteer Army stepped into Kiev. "Yes, [now] this Krai is Russian. And we won't give it back neither to the Ukrainian traitors, nor to the Jewish hangmen who drowned the city streets with blood," Shulgin wrote on September 3.[1] In the same issue he warned againstpogroms ("These villains should be put to justice and this trial will be severe, but themob law is unacceptable") but as the nightly, so-called 'quiet pogroms' started, Shulgin in his infamous "Torture by Fear" article (October, 8) confessed he could 'understand the feelings' of those responsible for pogroms since 'the Jews had formed the basis for the Bolshevik power'.[1]
Kievlyanin folded in December 1919, as theRed Army stepped into Kiev. In 1925 Shulgin made an attempt to revive it in emigration, but failed to find a publisher.[5][2]
