Identity and Geopolitics: Ukraine's Grappling With Imperial Legacies

During his March 18, 2014 Kremlin speech celebrating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea, Vladimir Putin declared: “Kiev is the mother of Russian cities. Ancient Rus is our common source and we cannot live without each other.” Putin had already hinted that, to him, Ukraine “isn’t a state.” The border between Russia and Ukraine would, somehow, be the result of a staggeringly immense, ancient, but still ongoing conspiracy: “The intention to split Russia and Ukraine, to separate what is essentially a single nation in many ways, has been an issue of international politics for centuries.” Yet, how well founded are such deep, encompassing, meta-irredentist claims? The question impinges upon Ukraine’s very raison d’être: its right to constitute an autonomous, self-ruling entity whose existence and boundaries are acknowledged and respected, as well as its ability to develop an identity which is distinct from that of its latest imperial overlord. An answer to, or analysis of this question clusters around three highly contentious issue areas: national origins (i.e., Rus, Poland, Russia, and "Little Russians"); language; and state violence – specifically the treatment of Ukrainian compatriots in Soviet times (most notably the Holodomor).