 Cover of first book edition | |
| Author | Vladimir Putin |
|---|---|
| Original title | Об историческом единстве русских и украинцев |
| Language |
|
| Genre | Propaganda Pseudohistory |
| Publisher | Office of the President of Russia |
Publication date | 12 July 2021 |
| Publication place | Russia |
| ||
|---|---|---|
Legacy   | ||
On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians[a] is an essay byRussian presidentVladimir Putin published on theKremlin.ru website on 12 July 2021.[1]
The essay was published shortly after the end of the first of twobuildups of Russian forces preceding thefull-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In the essay, Putin describes his views on Ukraine andUkrainians.[2]
According toRBK Daily, the essay is included in the list of mandatory works to be studied by theRussian military.[3] In 2021, the essay was also published as a book with no author indicated.[4]
In the essay, Putin argues thatRussians andUkrainians, along withBelarusians, are one people, belonging to what has historically been known as thetriune Russian nation.[5] To support the claim, he describes in length his views on thehistory of Russia andUkraine,[6] concluding that Russians and Ukrainians share acommon heritage and destiny.[7]
Noting the large number ofethnic Russians in Ukraine, Putin compares "the formation of an ethnically pure Ukrainian state, aggressive towards Russia" to a use ofweapons of mass destruction against Russians.[8]
Putin openly questions the legitimacy of Ukraine's contemporary borders, which are based on theUkrainian SSR's1954–1991 borders.[9] According to Putin, modern-day Ukraine occupies historically Russian lands,[9] and is an "anti-Russia project" created by external forces since the seventeenth century, and of administrative and political decisions made during theSoviet Union[5] (aBBC article traced the term "anti-Russia project" to some Russian conspiratorial writing of 2011–2013).[10] He also discusses theRusso-Ukrainian War, maintaining that "Kiev simply does not needDonbas".[11]
Putin places blame for the current crisis on foreign plots and anti-Russian conspiracies.[9] According to Putin, the decisions of the Ukrainian government are driven by a Western plot against Russia as well as by "followers ofBandera".[12]
Putin ends the lengthy essay by asserting Russia's role in modern Ukrainian affairs.[9]
According to an April 2023 investigative report by the Russian websiteVertska [ru], one draft of the essay included a direct threat of military action against Ukraine, although it was removed from the final version.[13]
A few days later, the Kremlin website published an interview with Putin about the article.[14]
Several months later,Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of theSecurity Council of Russia, also published an article on Ukraine in the Russian dailyKommersant. In it, he agrees with Putin's essay, and declares that there will be no negotiations with Ukraine until the Ukrainian government is replaced.[15] The article, endorsed by the Kremlin, was criticized for its denigrating andantisemitic tone.[16][17]
Vladislav Surkov, the personal adviser (2013–2020) of Putin, also published an article concerning Ukraine and other ex-USSR territories on the websiteAktualnye Kommentarii. In the article, he questions the legitimacy of the western border of Russia (including the borders with Ukraine and theBaltic states), claiming that it was born out of theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk, arguing that Russia should abolish the "wicked peace" that keeps it confined by the borders.[18][19]
Ina speech on 21 February 2022, following the deployment of Russian troops in theDonetsk andLuhansk People's Republics, Putin said that "modern Ukraine was wholly and fully created by Bolshevik, communist Russia".[20]Sarah Rainsford wrote inBBC News that Putin's speech was "rewriting Ukraine's history", and that his focus on the country was "obsessive".[21]Vitaly Chervonenko from theBBC noted how carefully Putin kept silent about theindependent Ukrainian state formations of 1917–1920 andKyiv's war with Lenin's Bolshevik government, whose purpose was to include Ukraine inBolshevik Russia.[22]
Of course, Lenin did not create Ukraine. In 1918, he started awar against anindependent Ukrainian state and then replaced it with apuppet state called theUkrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. WhatLenin really created was theRussian Federation, a state that received itsconstitution in 1918 and became part of theUSSRfour years later. In 1991,Yeltsin removed this entity created by Lenin from the USSR, thereby contributing to thecollapse of the Union. Lenin was the creator of modern Russia, not Ukraine, and should be considered as such.
— Professor ofUkrainian history atHarvard University,Serhii Plokhy.
Plokhiy recalled that Lenininvaded Ukraine and then took away even formal independence from Ukraine byintegrating it into the Soviet Union in 1922.[23]
The article "The Advance of Russia and of a New World" byPetr Akopov was briefly published in several Russian state news sites on 26 February 2022, two days after Russian forces openly invaded Ukrainian-controlled territory, but was soon deleted. Its original publication onRIA Novosti at precisely 8:00 a.m. suggests it may have been automatically published by mistake.[24] The article celebrates the "gathering the Russian world, the Russian people together—in its entirety of Great Russians, Belarusians andLittle Russians", and Vladimir Putin's historic responsibility for "resolution of the Ukrainian question".[25][26][24]
The same state-ownedRIA Novosti published another article in April 2022, this time without any backtracking. Titled "What Russia Should Do with Ukraine", the article openly accused the entire Ukrainian nation of being Nazis who must be wiped out and in some cases re-educated.[27][28][29]
On 29 March 2022,Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the officialgovernment gazette of the Russian government, published an article that claims that European elites support theUkrainian Nazis because of their bitterness over the loss in theSecond World War.[30] The article quotes Ukrainian priest Vasiliy Zenkovskiy, "Ukraine must become a part of Russia, even if Ukrainians are against it".[31]
The article was also almost simultaneously published in German in journalOsteuropa under the titleÜber die historische Einheit der Russen und der Ukrainer.[32][importance?] (Vladimir Putin is fully fluent in written and spoken German).[importance?]
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, thepresident of Ukraine, criticized the essay on 13 July, comparing Putin's view on the brotherhood between the nations with the story ofCain and Abel.[33] Former presidentPetro Poroshenko also sharply criticized the essay, describing it as a counterpart of Hitler'sSudetenlandspeech.[34] Formerpresident of EstoniaToomas Hendrik Ilves similarly likened it to Hitler's 1938 rhetoric justifying thepartition of Czechoslovakia.[35] Ukraine's envoy toUnited NationsSergiy Kyslytsya commented, "fables about the 'one people' ... have been refuted inDonbas battlefields".[36]
According to theInstitute of History of Ukraine, the essay represents the historical views of theRussian Empire.[37] TheUkrainian World Congress compares Putin's view of Ukraine "as a non-nation" to that ofJoseph Stalin under whose watch at least five million Ukrainians perished during theHolodomor.[6]
TheCarnegie Endowment for International Peace called the essay a "historical, political, and security predicate for invading [Ukraine]".[38] TheStockholm Free World Forum senior fellowAnders Åslund branded the essay as "one step short of a declaration of war."[9] According toForeign Policy, the essay is a "key guide to the historical stories that shape Putin's and many Russian's attitudes".[39] HistorianTimothy Snyder described Putin's ideas asimperialism,[40] while British journalistEdward Lucas described the essay ashistorical revisionism.[41] Other observers noted that the Russian leadership at the time had a distorted view of modern Ukraine and its history.[5][9]
InRomania, a part of the essay caused outrage. The fragment in question describes how, in 1918, theKingdom of Romania had "occupied" (and notunited with) the geographical region ofBessarabia, part of which is now in Ukraine. Romanian media outlets such asAdevărul andDigi24 commented on Putin's statements and criticized them. Remarks were also made regardingNorthern Bukovina, another former Romanian territory now part of Ukraine.[42][43]Alexandru Muraru, then a deputy of Romania, also replied to Putin's essay, declaring that Bessarabia was not occupied but "reattached" and "reincorporated" following "democratic processes and historical realities". Muraru also commented on Northern Bukovina.[44]
A report by 35 legal and genocide experts cited Putin's essay as part of "laying the groundwork for incitement to genocide: denying the existence of the Ukrainian group".[45]
In his 2022Yale lecture, Timothy Snyder argues that Putin's essay is a piece of "bad history".[46]
По данным «Вёрстки», статья менялась много раз, и в одном из вариантов была прямая угроза о возможности начать военную операцию. Но в окончательный вариант угроза не попала.[According toVertska, the article was changed many times, and in one of the versions there was a direct threat about the possibility of launching a military operation. But the threat was not included in the final version.]
Works related toOn the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians at WikisourcePart of theRusso-Ukrainian war | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
_(3x4_cropped).jpg)
