"On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians" (russian: Об историческом единстве русских и украинцев, Ob istoricheskom yedinstve russkikh i ukraintsev, uk, Про історичну єдність росіян та українців, translit=Pro istorychnu yednist rosian ta ukraintsiv) is an essay by

Russian president The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

published on 12 July 2021. It was published shortly after the end of the first of two buildups of Russian forces preceding the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In the essay, Putin describes his views on Ukraine and

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian. The majority ...

. According to

RBK Daily ''RBK Daily'' (russian: РБК daily) is a general Business journalism, business newspaper published in Moscow, Russia. History and profile ''RBK Daily'' was started in October 2006. The paper is part of RBC Information Systems, RosBusinessConsu ...

, the essay is included in the list of mandatory works to be studied by the

Russian military The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two m ...

In the essay, Putin argues that

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

and

, along with

Belarusians , native_name_lang = be , pop = 9.5–10 million , image = , caption = , popplace = 7.99 million , region1 = , pop1 = 600,000–768,000 , region2 = , pop2 ...

, are one people, belonging to what has historically been known as the

triune Russian nation The All-Russian nation (russian: общерусский народ, ) or triune Russian nation (russian: триединый русский народ, label=none, ), also called the pan-Russian nation ( uk, пан-руський народ, ), i ...

. To support the claim, he describes in length his views on the history of Russia and Ukraine, concluding that Russians and Ukrainians share a common heritage and destiny. Noting the large number of

ethnic Russians in Ukraine Russians are the largest ethnic minority in Ukraine. This community forms the largest single Russian community outside of Russia in the world. In the 2001 Ukrainian census, 8,334,100 identified as ethnic Russians (17.3% of the population of Ukra ...

, Putin compares "the formation of an ethnically pure Ukrainian state, aggressive towards Russia" to a use of

weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natura ...

against Russians. Putin openly questions the legitimacy of Ukraine's contemporary borders. According to Putin, the modern-day Ukraine occupies historically Russian lands, and is an "anti-Russia project" created by external forces since the seventeenth century, and of administrative and political decisions made during the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. He also discusses the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatist forces in Donbas, Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since Feb ...

, maintaining that "Kiev simply does not need Donbas". Putin places blame for the current crisis on foreign plots and anti-Russian conspiracies. According to Putin, the decisions of the Ukrainian government are driven by a Western plot against Russia as well as by "followers of

Bandera Bandera - from a Spanish word meaning a ''flag'' - may refer to: Places * Bandera County, Texas ** Bandera, Texas, its county seat ** Bandera Creek, a river in Texas, with its source near Bandera Pass ** Bandera Pass, a mountain pass in Bandera C ...

". Putin ends the lengthy essay by asserting Russia's role in modern Ukrainian affairs.

Follow-ups

A few days later, the Kremlin website published an interview with Putin about the article. Several months later,

Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev ( rus, links=no, Дмитрий Анатольевич Медведев, p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪdˈvʲedʲɪf; born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician who has been serving as the dep ...

, the deputy chairman of the

Security Council of Russia The Security Council of the Russian Federation (SCRF or Sovbez; russian: Совет безопасности Российской Федерации (СБРФ), Sovet bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii (SBRF)) is a constitutional consultative bo ...

, also published an article on Ukraine. In it, he agrees with Putin's essay, and declares that there will be no negotiations with Ukraine until the Ukrainian government is replaced. The article, endorsed by the Kremlin, was criticized for its denigrating and

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

tone.

Vladislav Surkov Vladislav Yuryevich Surkov (russian: Владислав Юрьевич Сурков; born 21 September 1962 or 1964) is a Russian politician and businessman. He was First Deputy Chief of the Russian Presidential Administration from 1999 to 201 ...

, the personal adviser (2013–2020) of Putin, also published an article concerning Ukraine and other ex-USSR territories. In the article, he questions the legitimacy of the western border of Russia (including the borders with Ukraine and the

Baltic states The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

), and argues that Russia should abolish the "wicked peace" that keeps it confined by the borders. In a speech on 21 February 2022, following the escalation in the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis, Putin said that "modern Ukraine was wholly and fully created by Bolshevik, communist Russia".

Sarah Rainsford Sarah Elizabeth Rainsford is a BBC foreign correspondent who has reported from Russia, Ukraine, Spain, Turkey, Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq while working for the BBC since 1999. Early life and education Rainsford attended secondary school in the ...

wrote in

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

that Putin's speech was "rewriting Ukraine's history", and that his focus on the country was "obsessive". The article "The Advance of Russia and of a New World" by

Petr Akopov Petr Akopov is a Russian propagandist working for RIA Novosti, a Russian state-owned news agency. Akapov was the author of the pre-maturely published and theretracted articletitled "The arrival/attack of Russia and the new world" ("Наступл� ...

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 on

RIA News RIA Novosti (russian: РИА Новости), sometimes referred to as RIAN () or RIA (russian: РИА, label=none) is a Russian state-owned domestic news agency. On 9 December 2013 by a decree of Vladimir Putin it was liquidated and its asse ...

at precisely 8:00 a.m. suggests it may have been automatically published by mistake. The article celebrates the "gathering the Russian world, the Russian people together—in its entirety of Great Russians, Belarusians and

Little Russia Little Russia (russian: Малороссия/Малая Россия, Malaya Rossiya/Malorossiya; uk, Малоросія/Мала Росія, Malorosiia/Mala Rosiia), also known in English as Malorussia, Little Rus' (russian: Малая Ру� ...

ns" (using a Russian-empire term for colonized Ukrainians), and Vladimir Putin's historic responsibility for "resolution of the Ukrainian question". The same state-owned RIA News later published the article in 2022, "

What Russia should do with Ukraine "What Russia Should Do with Ukraine" (russian: Что Россия должна сделать с Украиной, translit=Chto Rossiya dolzhna sdelat' s Ukrainoy), is an op-ed article written by and published by the Russian state-owned news ag ...

" openly advocating censorship and elimination of the

Ukrainian culture The culture of Ukraine is the composite of the material and spiritual values of the Ukrainian people that has formed throughout the history of Ukraine. It is closely intertwined with ethnic studies about ethnic Ukrainians and Ukrainian historiog ...

, large-scale new education and de-ukrainisation of Ukrainians on the occupied territories. On 29 March 2022,

Rossiyskaya Gazeta ' (russian: Российская газета, lit. Russian Gazette) is a Russian newspaper published by the Government of Russia. The daily newspaper serves as the official government gazette of the Government of the Russian Federation, publishi ...

, the official

government gazette A government gazette (also known as an official gazette, official journal, official newspaper, official monitor or official bulletin) is a periodical publication that has been authorised to publish public or legal notices. It is usually establis ...

of the Russian government, published an article that claims that European elites support the Ukrainian resistance because they are Nazis. According to the article, Ukraine must become a part of Russia, even if Ukrainians are against it.(russian: "Даже против воли Украины она должна быть в составе России"...). From:

Reactions

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, ; russian: Владимир Александрович Зеленский, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zelenskyy, (born 25 January 1978; also transliterated as Zelensky or Zelenskiy) is a Ukrainian politicia ...

, the

president of Ukraine The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, condu ...

, criticized the essay on 13 July, comparing Putin's view on the brotherhood between the nations with the story of

Cain and Abel In the biblical Book of Genesis, Cain ''Qayīn'', in pausa ''Qāyīn''; gr, Κάϊν ''Káïn''; ar, قابيل/قايين, Qābīl / Qāyīn and Abel ''Heḇel'', in pausa ''Hāḇel''; gr, Ἅβελ ''Hábel''; ar, هابيل, Hāb� ...

. Former president

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko ( uk, Петро́ Олексі́йович Пороше́нко, ; born 26 September 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. Poroshenko ser ...

also sharply criticized the essay, describing it as a counterpart of Hitler's

Sudetenland The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and sk, Sudety) is the historical German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the ...

speech. Former

president of Estonia The president of the Republic of Estonia ( et, Eesti Vabariigi President) is the head of state of the Republic of Estonia. The current president is Alar Karis, elected by Parliament on 31 August 2021, replacing Kersti Kaljulaid. Estonia is ...

Toomas Hendrik Ilves Toomas Hendrik Ilves (; born 26 December 1953) is an Estonian politician who served as the fourth president of Estonia from 2006 until 2016. Ilves worked as a diplomat and journalist, and he was the leader of the Social Democratic Party in the ...

similarly likened it to Hitler's 1938 rhetoric justifying the partition of Czechoslovakia. Ukraine's envoy to

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Sergiy Kyslytsya Sergiy Olehovych Kyslytsya ( uk, Сергій Олегович Кислиця; born 15 August 1969) is a Ukrainian career diplomat, who serves as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine and Permanent Representative of Ukraine t ...

commented, "fables about the 'one people' ... have been refuted in Donbas battlefields". According to the

Institute of History of Ukraine Institute of History of Ukraine is a research institute in Ukraine that is part of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine department of history, philosophy and law and studies a wide spectrum of problems in history of Ukraine. The institute ...

, the essay represents the historical views of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. The

Ukrainian World Congress Ukrainian World Congress ( uk, Світовий Конґрес Українців or ''СКУ'') is a non-profit organization, nonpartisan association, international coordination assembly of all Ukrainian public organizations in diaspora. It repre ...

compares Putin's view of Ukraine "as a non-nation" to that of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

under whose watch at least five million Ukrainians perished during the

Holodomor The Holodomor ( uk, Голодомо́р, Holodomor, ; derived from uk, морити голодом, lit=to kill by starvation, translit=moryty holodom, label=none), also known as the Terror-Famine or the Great Famine, was a man-made famin ...

. The

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington D.C. with operations in Europe, South and East Asia, and the Middle East as well as the United States. Founded in ...

called the essay a "historical, political, and security predicate for invading kraine. The Stockholm Free World Forum senior fellow

Anders Åslund Per Anders Åslund (; born 17 February 1952) is a Sweden, Swedish economist and former Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. He is also a chairman of the International Advisory Council at the Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE). His ...

branded the essay as "one step short of a declaration of war." According to ''

Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

'', the essay is a "key guide to the historical stories that shape Putin's and many Russian's attitudes". Historian

Timothy Snyder Timothy David Snyder (born August 18, 1969) is an American historian specializing in the modern history of Central and Eastern Europe. He is the Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute f ...

has described Putin's ideas as

imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...

. British journalist Edward Lucas described it as historical revisionism. Other observers have noted that the Russian leadership has a distorted view of modern Ukraine and its history. In

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, a part of the essay caused outrage. The fragment in question describes how, in 1918, the

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania ( ro, Regatul României) was a constitutional monarchy that existed in Romania from 13 March ( O.S.) / 25 March 1881 with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian ...

had "occupied" (and not

united United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

with) the geographical region of

Bessarabia Bessarabia (; Gagauz: ''Besarabiya''; Romanian: ''Basarabia''; Ukrainian: ''Бессара́бія'') is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Be ...

, part of which is now in Ukraine. Romanian media outlets such as ''

Adevărul ''Adevărul'' (; meaning "The Truth", formerly spelled ''Adevĕrul'') is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in Iași, in 1871, and reestablished in 1888, in Bucharest, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published dur ...

'' and

Digi24 Digi24, often known as Digi 24 (), is a 24-hour Romanian news television channel which was launched on 1 March 2012 by Digi TV.MediafaxTeleviziunea de ştiri Digi24 a primit licenţă de la CNA şi se va lansa la 1 martie/ref> History 10 TV, a ...

commented on Putin's statements and criticized them. Remarks were also made regarding

Northern Bukovina Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter Berger ...

, another former Romanian territory now part of Ukraine. , 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. 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".

References

External links

* {{2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine 2020s essays 2021 in Russia 2021 in Ukraine Essays by Vladimir Putin Imperialism Russian nationalism Russian irredentism Historical negationism Propaganda in Russia War in Donbas Prelude to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Russia Propaganda in Russia related to Russian invasion of Ukraine Russia–Ukraine relations

Contents

Follow-ups

Reactions

See also

References

External links