SECURITIZATION OF HISTORICAL MEMORY DURING THE RUSSO-UKRAINIAN WAR
SECURITIZATION OF HISTORICAL MEMORY DURING THE RUSSO-UKRAINIAN WAR

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of the research deals with the study of the historical politics of Ukraineduring the war in the context of national security. The theoretical framework is based on the conceptof securitization developed by the Copenhagen School (Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver) and the conceptof Politics of Mnemonical Security (Maria Mälksoo). The research methodology is based on theuse of a transdisciplinary approach the principles of objectivity, historicism, systematicity, the useof methods of analysis and synthesis, generalization and systematization, comparative-historical,historical-typological and problematic-chronological. The studies novelty is that the article exami-nes for the first time the phenomenon of securitization of memory during the Russo-Ukrainian waragainst the background of the features of the landscape of memory in Eastern and Central Euro-pe, analyzes the legislation, highlights the views of representatives of the Ukrainian authorities onthe role of history in the war time. The securitization of historical memory in Ukraine began afterRussia’s aggression in 2014 and serves as a means of ensuring the safety of the national historicalnarrative by delegitimizing or directly criminalizing Soviet and Russian narratives that are con-sidered a threat to the state and society. Its main reason is the abuse of “historical arguments” bythe Russian authorities, which include the denial of the existence of the Ukrainian people and theUkrainian language, statements about Ukraine as a “failed state” and the Nazi state, the concepts ofRussian world, Novorossiya, and the divided Russian people. Securitization is a forced and tempo-rary wartime policy. In a democratic and pluralistic society, national memory cannot be formulatedofficially or regulated by bureaucracy. After the war, historical memory must be desecuritized, de-weaponized and returned to the realm of political participation and public debate.

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