Russia’s claim for “Mother-of-Slavs” status: attempts to manipulate Ukrainian identity
Russia’s claim for “Mother-of-Slavs” status: attempts to manipulate Ukrainian identity

Summary/Abstract: In 2015 President Putin’s experiment to transform Ukraine into Novorossiya (Little Russia) seems to have failed. Despite the violations of its sovereignty and warfare, Ukraine is still on the maps. Even Moscow’s tampering of historical facts – such as renaming “Kievan Rus’” the “Ancient Rus’” state in encyclopedias – has not erased the history of Ukraine. Nor does it deny the existence of the Ukrainian nation. With all its complexity, Ukraine is an independent state with its own particular identity: consolidated or not, it is Ukrainian, and not Russian. This is contested by Russia since protecting Russian identity in Ukraine is the only justification for the military aggression. The article analyzes contemporary Ukrainian identity and the author attempts to determine whether there really is discrimination against identity diversity in Ukraine or whether Mother Russia is simply claiming domination.

• Details
• Contents