Russian Nationalism and the Russian-Ukrainian War: Autocracy-Orthodoxy-Nationality

288 Pages·2022·7.39 MB·english

by  Taras Kuzio

Russian Nationalism and the Russian-
Ukrainian War
This book is the first to provide an in-depth understanding of the 2014 crisis, Russia’s
annexationofCrimeaandEurope’sdefactowarbetweenRussiaandUkraine.Thebook
provides a historical and contemporary understanding behind President Vladimir Putin
Russia’s obsession with Ukraine and why Western opprobrium and sanctions have not
deterredRussianmilitaryaggression.
ThevolumeprovidesawealthofdetailabouttheinabilityofRussia,fromthetimeof
the Tsarist Empire, throughout the era of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
(USSR), and since the dissolution of the latter in 1991, to accept Ukraine as an inde-
pendent country and Ukrainians as a people distinct and separate from Russians. The
book highlights the sources of this lack of acceptance in aspects of Russian national
identity. In the Soviet period, Russians principally identified themselves not with the
Russian Soviet Federative Republic, but rather with the USSRas awhole. Attempts in
the1990stoforgeapost-imperialRussiancivicidentitygroundedinthenewlyindepen-
dent Russian Federation wereunpopular, and notions of a far larger Russian ‘imagined
community’ came to the fore. A post-Soviet integration of Tsarist Russian great power
nationalism and White Russian émigré chauvinism had already transformed and har-
denedRussiandenialoftheexistenceofUkraineandUkrainiansasapeople,evenprior
to the 2014 crises in Crimea and the Donbas. Bringing an end to both the Russian
occupationofCrimeaandtothebroaderRussian–Ukrainianconflictcanbeexpectedto
meetobstaclesnotonlyfromtheRussiandefactoPresident-for-life,VladimirPutin,but
alsofromhowRussiaperceivesitsnationalidentity.
TarasKuzioisanAssociateResearchFellowattheHenryJacksonSocietythinktankin
London, UKand Professor in the Department of Political Science, National University
ofKyivMohylaAcademy,Ukraine.Heistheauthor,co-author,editorandco-editorof
21 books, including Ukraine’s Outpost: Dnipropetrovsk and the Russian-Ukrainian War
(2021,co-editor),CrisisinRussianStudies?Nationalism(Imperialism),RacismandWar
(2020), The Sources of Russia’s Great Power Politics: Ukraine and the Challenge to the
EuropeanOrder(2018,coauthor),Putin’sWarAgainstUkraine:Revolution,Nationalism,
and Crime (2017). He is the author of five think tank monographs, including The
Crimea:Europe’sNextFlashpoint?(2010)andisalsoamemberoftheeditorialboardsof
Demokratizatsiya, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Eurasian Geography and
Economics, Central and European Migration Review, and The Ukrainian Quarterly. He
has authored 38 book chapters and over 130 scholarly articles on Ukrainian and Eur-
asian politics, democratic transitions, colour revolutions, nationalism, and European
studies.
Europa Country Perspectives
The Europa Country Perspectives series, from Routledge, examines a wide
range of contemporary political, economic, developmental and social issues
from areas around the world. Complementing the Europa Regional Surveys
of the World series, Europa Country Perspectives is a valuable resource for
academics, students, researchers, policymakers, business people and anyone
with an interest in current world affairs.
While the Europa World Year Book and its associated Regional Surveys
inform on and analyse contemporary economic, political and social devel-
opments at the national and regional level, Country Perspectives provide in-
depth, country-specific volumes written or edited by specialists in their field,
delving into a country’s particular situation. Volumes in the series are not
constrained by any particular template, but may explore a country’s recent
political, economic, international relations, social, defence, or other issues in
order to increase understanding.
Greece in the 21st Century
The Politics and Economics of a Crisis
Edited by Constantine Dimoulas and Vassilis K. Fouskas
The Basque Contention
Ethnicity, Politics, Violence
Ludger Mees
Barcelona, the Left and the Independence Movement in Catalonia
Richard Gillespie
Political Party Dynamics and Democracy in Sweden
Developments since the ‘Golden Age’
Tommy Möller
Territorial Politics and the Party System in Spain
Continuity and Change since the Financial Crisis
Caroline Gray
Russian Nationalism and the Russian-Ukrainian War
Autocracy-Orthodoxy-Nationality
Taras Kuzio
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Europa-Country-Perspectives/book-series/ECP.
Russian Nationalism and the
Russian-Ukrainian War
Autocracy-Orthodoxy-Nationality
Taras Kuzio
Firstpublished2022
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
andbyRoutledge
605ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10158
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©2022TarasKuzio
TherightofTarasKuziotobeidentifiedasauthorofthisworkhasbeen
assertedinaccordancewithsections77and78oftheCopyright,Designs
andPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproduced
orutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,
nowknownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,
orinanyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissionin
writingfromthepublishers.
Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksor
registeredtrademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanation
withoutintenttoinfringe.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Acatalogrecordhasbeenrequestedforthisbook
ISBN:978-1-032-04317-3(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-032-04320-3(pbk)
ISBN:978-1-003-19143-8(ebk)
DOI:10.4324/9781003191438
TypesetinTimesNewRoman
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
‘It appears, and this is highly regrettable, that Ukraine is being turned, slowly but
steadily, into an antipode of Russia, an anti-Russia, a territory from which, judging
by all appearances, we will never stop receiving news that need to be given special
attentioninterms ofprotectingthenationalsecurityoftheRussianFederation.’
President Vladimir Putin to the UN Security Council, 14 May 2021 – http://www.en.
kremlin.ru/events/president/news/65572
‘Thecurrentpresidentofthistorturedcountry[Ukraine]isapersonwithcertain[Jewish]
ethnicroots,whospokeRussianallhislife.Moreover,heworkedinRussiaandreceived
significantprofitsfromhisRussianbusinessactivities.Nevertheless,atacertainmoment,
having become head of state, from fearof provoking another ‘Maidan’ against his per-
sonal power, he completely changed his political and moral orientation. In fact, he
renounced his identity. He [Volodymyr Zelenskyy] began to earnestly serve the most
rabidnationalistforcesinUkraine…
ThisisreminiscentoftheludicroussituationwheremembersoftheJewishintelligentsia
inNaziGermany,forideologicalreasons,wouldbeaskedtoserveintheSS…Therefore,
heshowshimselftobemoreofanationalistthanthemostradicalofthem…
The current generation of Ukrainian leaders are very dependent people. Much has
already been said andwritten about this, including inthewell-known[July 2021] article
by Vladimir V. Putin. The country [Ukraine] is under direct foreign control. Ukraine is
completelydependentuponcashinjectionsintoitseconomyfromhandoutsgivenbythe
United States and the EU and direct management of the Ukrainian secret services by
their American patrons. It therefore makes no sense for us [Russia] to deal with these
vassals [Ukraine]. The business [of Ukraine] must be dealt with through its overlord
[USA].
Inviewofthistheeternalandcentralquestionarisesofwhattodowhenwearefaced
withthissituation.Well,nothing.Wewaitfortheappearanceofasaneleadershipin
Ukraine whose goal is not to provoke total confrontation with Russiaby taking the
country to the brink of war and does not organise the moronic ‘Crimean Platform’
created to fool the country’s population and pump up their muscles before elections,
but instead at building equal and mutually beneficial relations with Russia. Only
when there will be such a Ukrainian leadership will it be worthwhile dealing with
Ukraine.Russiaknowshowtowait.Wearepatientpeople.’
DeputyChairmanoftheRussianSecurityCouncilDmitryMedvedev,11October2021
–https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5028300?

Contents
List of figures viii
1
Preface
PARTI
Theorical and Comparative Perspectives 35
1 Civic, ethnic, or civic-ethnic states: A discussion of
theoretical concepts 37
65
2 Russia and Ukraine in comparative perspective
PARTII
Russian Nationalism about Ukraine 97
3 Russian nationalism and Ukraine: Émigrés, dissidents and Soviets 99
4 Boris Yeltsin: Liberalism, tanks, and unions 129
156
5 Vladimir Putin: ‘Gathererof Russian lands’
PARTIII
Russian Nationalism versus Ukraine 177
6 Democrats and the ‘red-white-brown’ coalition 179
7 Messianism, ‘Holy Rus,’ and the Russian World 204
8 Russia’s ‘Jerusalem’: Crimea and ‘New Russia’ 228
9 Conclusions 261
Index 268
Figures
2.1 Map of Casualties of Ukrainian Security Forces by Region of
Birth (data as at 10 January 2021): The highest numberof
casualties (481) are in Dnipropetrovsk oblast. 77
6.1 Russian great power nationalists lay claim to Kyiv Rus, praise
Ivan the Terrible and Stalin and await a newdictator. 191
6.2 ‘The Russian media constantly tries to make a connection
between independence, Banderites and fascism’
(Shkandrij 2016, p.129). 195
9.1 Russian Information Warfare Targets Ukrainian
President Zelenskyy 265
Preface
Prior to the disintegration of the USSR in 1991, Western scholars of the
Soviet Union ignored and downplayed the nationality question in the Soviet
Union and often used ‘Russia’ and the ‘USSR’ interchangeably. Western
Sovietologists have experienced two crises in the last three decades.
Thefirst crisiswasbroughtaboutbythedisintegrationoftheUSSRwhich
they never predicted would happen. The majority of Sovietologists had
focused on Russia and ‘Kremlinology’ and had ignored the non-Russian
nations. Left-wing scholars believed Soviet propaganda the nationality ques-
tion had been resolved because ‘Leftists shared the Marxist inclination to
view nationalism as a transitory phenomenon’ (Subtelny 1994, p.142).1
Meanwhile, ‘American liberals generally looked askance at nationalist issues
andcauses’while‘Conservatives,byandlarge,tendedtoviewtheUSSRasa
massive, threatening, undifferentiatedwhole’ (Subtelny 1994, p.142).
WesternSovietologywasinfluencedbyRussianémigréhistoriansofRussia
and historians who adopted Russian nationalist frameworks which air-
brushed Ukraine from history (see Kuzio 2020, pp.9–35). Support for the
indivisibility of the Russian Empire among Russian historians meant, ‘not
only did the Russian emigre academics pay little heed to the non-Russians
but some vehemently objected against attempts to study them’ (Subtelny
1994, p.142).
In the 1970s and 1980s, the broadening of Sovietology to researching the
non-Russians and nationality problems in the USSR was largely a North
American phenomenon (see Chapter 3). In the UK, Sovietology remained
highly Russo-centric and focused on ‘Kremlinology;’ British scholars have
only researched the non-Russian nations of the former USSR since 1991. In
December 1991, after Ukraine’s referendum on independence received a
massive 92.3 percent endorsement, individuals claiming to be from the
‘British Foreign Office’ visited the Ukrainian bookstore in London’s Notting
Hill Gate in search of histories of Ukraine.2 The British government needed
to urgently swot up on a country which had just appeared on the map with
armed forces numbering 800,000 and the world’s third largest stockpile of
nuclear weapons. In the 1990s, the UK government expanded the numberof
scholarly positions in post-Soviet studies with three positions on
DOI: 10.4324/9781003191438-1