Dmytro Polovynka

Ukraine-Russia historical differences. Empire vs Fight for Independence.

I will show profound differences between Ukraine and Russia from the historical perspective. First I will show the actual historical differences. Then I will jump to why this history defines Ukraine and Russia. And because we are in the busy world, I gave away the main message already in the header. Russia is an empire, while Ukraine has never been. And this matters. Why? Read further.

Simple but wrong version of common history

A very simplified version of both Ukrainian and Russian history follows:

  1. There was a Kyivan Rus once;
  2. Skip one thousand years of a complicated history and now there are Ukraine, Russia and Belarus;
  3. Two previous facts are related. That’s why Kyivan Rus is a cradle of three brotherly nations;

This, according to Russia, must prove that Russia may attack Ukraine to get back to the ancient Kyivan Rus unity.

Careful reader may already see that something does not play well here. Why Rus was called Kyivan and not Moscovian? And then why it’s (Moscovian) Russia who should occupy (Kyivan) Ukraine and not vice-versa? And more profoundly — why Russia actually decided that Kyivan Rus were their ancestral country, but not Golden Horde or Khazar Khaganate?

Before Kyivan Rus

It should not be a surprise that there were people living on the modern Ukrainian and Russian territory before Kyivan Rus. And history here is pretty different for Ukraine and Russia.

For example Scythians have much more to do with Ukraine than with Russia. Ancient Trypillia-Cucuteni culture has nothing to do with modern Russia, but they do with Ukraine. And Uralic tribes, such as Mordovians and Erzya, have nothing to do with Ukraine, but they are an important component of modern Russian nation.

Kyivan Rus was actually a brief period of both Russian and Ukrainian history, and often it was not even a single state, but a union of related states.

After Kyivan Rus

But it’s mostly what happened after Kyivan Rus which made Ukraine and Russia being very different. Ukraine was often in the middle of the fight. Its lands were very lucrative to all the nations living around. Often Ukrainian history is depicted as a constant struggle for independence. And it is in a stark contrast with Russia, which was located more to the (not so lucrative) North, and which itself was colonising surrounding lands (including Ukrainian).

To-be-Ukrainians were mostly oppressed. Their proto-state, Zaporozhian Sich, was a military state with an egalitaristic democracy. Ukrainian history is strongly related with the history of Lithuania, Crimean Tatars, Hungary, Austria and most importantly — Muscovy (modern Russia) and Poland to a similar extent.

To-be-Russians were mostly the oppressors. Their proto-state (Muscovy) was strictly autocratical state. And it later became an empire. Its history is about waging wars with surrounding states, stretching its lands to the South and East, colonising Caucasian mountains, Central Asia, Siberia and selling Alaska to USA. Russia is huge, so its history is as related to Sweden as it is to Japan.

Consequences

The difference between Ukrainian and Russian history is profound.

Because of this history, Russia is militaristic, while Ukraine is not. Russia wants do dominate the world — or at least being an important pole in a multipolar world, while Ukraine has no such ambitions. It’s enough to look at the map to understand Ukrainian-Russian differences — Russia is huge (no wonder, since it is an empire). And Ukraine is not.

There are some other differences, while not so obvious, but still true.

Ukraine is quite ethnical-monolithic country. Most of its population are Ukrainians with a large Russian minority. Russia on the other hand has lots of ethnicities and autonomous ethnical states and regions, such as Dagestan or Tuva [1]. Which is logical for a country with an imperialistic past. The only autonomous region in Ukraine is Crimea with a large percentage of Crimean Tatars (while still not a majority).

Due to the above mentioned historical situation, Russian culture was mostly created by nobles, while Ukrainian culture was usually a product of villagers and serfs. Russian Pushkin and Ukrainian Shevchenko — most important poets for both countries perfectly illustrate this point. This, by the way, partially explains why Ukrainian cities, which were previously under Russian rule, are often Russian-speaking, while still surrounded by Ukrainian-speaking villages.

History explains why Russia is ruled autocratically. While Ukraine is not.

History also explains why Russians are obsessed with their greatness, while Ukrainians are obsessed with independence. “Be great together with us” — say Russians. “Just leave us alone” — say Ukrainians. This dialog is at the root of Russian-Ukrainian philosophical conflict. If you understand it, you understand the current war.

[1] I explain the problems with defining the word “Russian” in another article: https://medium.com/@navpil/russian-lies-examples-part-1-what-is-russian-88fc50e9484c

Map taken from: https://www.latimes.com/projects/russia-ukraine-invasion-maps/