origins of russian-ukraine conflict week 1 Flashcards
What did Mark Von Hagen have to say about Ukrainians?
In his seminal 1995 article, “Does Ukraine have a History?” The American historian Mark Von Hagen emphasized the near non-existence of Ukrainian history as a legitimate field of research
Who was Mykola Hohol or Nikolai Gogol?
Prominent Ukrainian born writer of the 19th century
→ one of the most important Ukrainian writer “I am Romance”
→fought in war and revolution in 1917
→participated in the Soviet red terror, his experiences of the terror and violence
→Slovo: where the most prominent Ukrainian writers lived, active communist party members and contributed to creation of Soviet Ukraine
What is the importance of Don Bas?
A historical, cultural and economic region in eastern UK, parts of it are occupied by Russia as a result of the Ruso-ukraine war, until the mid 19th century, it became one of the most important hubs of Russian industrialization because of its coal reserves, scarcely populated
→civilian experiences who lost loved ones during war
→Civilian militarization
→representations of fallen soldiers in media
What is Surzhyk and why is it so controversial?
For many people, language is a very sensitive topic because Russian is associated with the language of occupiers. So as of now, its really hard to evaluate a language dynamics in Ukraine
→language that flips between UK and Russian
→borrow words from each other
When did Ukraine become an independent state?
Ukraine became an independent state in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union
- Many people initially had a hard time differentiating between Russia and other Soviet republics, so during the early 90s, Ukraine was often associated with Russia
→stereotype reflected in the way UK history has been taught and studied as an academic field in Western academia (in the West it’s been studied as part of Russian history or not been studied at all)
Describe Russia’s war on Ukraine
- The largest war in Europe since WW2
- Russian invasion on February 24, 2022 made Russo-UK war highly visible to international community
War actually started in 2014 with annexation of Crimea and beginning the war in Donbas
What happened at Euromaidan (2013-2014)
- A space for popular protests and people power in general
- Victor Yanukoych → 4th president of Ukraine
Victor tried to reverse Uk’s pro-western and pro-European Union course
→ a mass peaceful popular protest unfolded in Uk (Revolution of Dignity)
With the support of Russia and Putin, Victor aimed to secure his power by trying to violently suppress the protest in capital of Uk
After the violent event, the officials of the Yanukovych regime fled to Russia and a new Ukrainian government was installed, supported by the US and their Western partners
Russia also used the change of government in Uk as an opportunity to seize Crimea in March 2014 under the guise of self-determination of the population of Crimea
What was the Orange Revolution (2005)?
Why did Russia annex the Crimea from Ukraine?
Annexing Crimea was perfect way of crippling the new Ukraine and asserting Russia’s greater geopolitical role
Crimea was also low-hanging fruit
→only region of Ukraine with an ethnic Russian majority
How did Russian authorities justify their annexation of Ukraine?
Russian authorities justified their annexation of the Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 by the need to protect their “compatriots,” thus defined, from the threat of a Western-supported coup in Ukraine
Who is Vladislav Surkov?
Russian politician: Kremlin’s main ideologist
→ commonly regarded as the mastermind of Putin’s Ukraine policy which plunged Moscow into open conflict with the west
→ fell from grace when he was expectedly sacked from his position as personal advisor to the president
→within days of his dismissal he stirred up fresh controversy by publicly questioning the existence of Ukrainian statehood
Putin insinuated that Ukrainian national identity had emerged as a product of foreign interference
Who was Victoria Amelina?
- an award-winning novelist, essayist and poet died on 1 July from injuries sustained in a Russian missile attack on a restaurant in eastern Ukraine
-After the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, she trained as a war crimes researcher, which meant travelling to frontlines and bearing witness to extreme violence and suffering
What is Holodomor?
Holodomor: first genocide that was methodically planned out and perpetrated by depriving the people who produce foods of their nourishment (for survival)
