Anti-Ukrainian sentiment
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Anti-Ukrainian sentiment or Ukrainophobia is defined as a feeling of animosity towards Ukrainians, Ukrainian culture, language or Ukraine as a nation.[1] It is widely present on the territory of the Russian Federation and Ukraine[2].
Definition
Modern authors define two types of Anti-Ukrainian sentiment: one based on discrimination of Ukrainians based on their ethnic or cultural origin, similar to other manifestations of xenophobia and racism; and the second based on the conceptual rejection of Ukrainians, Ukrainian culture and language as artificial and unnatural. The conceptual Anti-Ukrainian sentiment is widely common in the Former Soviet Union and Russia, where ideas of Ukrainians being an artificial anti-Russian creation have been promulgateed by several authors.[1] At ther turn of the 20-th century several authors were supporting an assertion that Ukrainian identity and language had been created atificially in order to undermine Russia.[3]
History
The rise of a Ukrainian self-awareness produced an anti-Ukrainian sentiment within some layers of the Russian empire. In order to curtail this movement, the use of Ukrainian (Little Russian) language within the Russian empire was initially restricted by the Valuev Circular and later banned completely by the Ems ukaz. Some restrictions were relaxed in 1905 and others ceased to be policed for a short period of time after the Revolution in 1917.
The Russian-Ukrainian war of 1918 became known in history as the Russian Civil war even though the RSFSR officially recognized the government of the UNR[4]. Later, during the Soviet occupation the population of Podillya and other parts of Ukraine was being slaughtered by the order of Yezhov in 1920's by being called as the nationalists, the anti-revolutionaries, and the enemies of the state (the most popular phrase of Stalin era)[5].
Anti-Ukrainian sentiment in contemporary Russia
Ukrainians in the Russian Federation represent a sizeable minority in the country and the third largest ethnic group after Russians and Tatars. In 2006, in letters to Vladimir Putin, Viktor Yushchenko and Vasily Duma, the Ukrainian Cultural Centre of Bashkortostan complained of anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Russia, which they claim includes wide use of anti-Ukrainian ethnic slurs in the mainstream Russian media, television and film.[6] The Urals Association of Ukrainians also made a similar complaint in a letter they addressed to the OSCE in 2000.[7] Negative and decidedly anti-Ukrainian attitude persists among several Russian politicians, which is expressed in particular by the mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and the Deputy Speaker of the Russian Parliament, Vladimir Zhirinovsky. [8]
In addition, in spite of their significant presence in Russia, according to the Ukrainian Cultural Centre of Bashkortostan, Ukrainians in that country have less access to the Ukrainian-language schools and Ukrainian churches than do other ethnic groups,[7] In Vladivostok, according to the head of the Ukrainian government's department of Ukrainian Diaspora Affairs, local Russian officials banned a Ukrainian Sunday school in order not to "accentuate national issues" [9]
With respect to religion, according to the claims of the president of the Ukrainan World Congress in 2001, persistent requests to register a Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate or a Ukrainian Catholic Church were hampered due to "particular discrimination" against them, while other Catholic, Muslim and Jewish denominations faired far better. [10]. According to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, by 2007 their denomination has only one church building in all of Russia [1].
References
- ^ a b Andriy Okara. Ukrainophobia as a gnostic problem.Retrieved 12.27.08.
- ^ James Stuart Olson, Lee Brigance Pappas, Nicholas Charles Pappas, An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994
- ^ Russia and Ukraine By Myroslav ShkandrijRetrieved 12.27.08
- ^ Stefan Talmon, Recognition of Governments in International Law: With Particular Reference to Governments in Exile, 1998 [hardcover], 2001 [paperback]. (Series: Oxford Monographs in International Law) ISBN-13: 978-0-19-826573-3, Publication date: 19 March 1998
- ^ Basil Dmytryshyn, Moscow and the Ukraine, 1918-1953: A Study of Russian Bolshevik Nationality Policy, Bookman Associates, 1956
- ^ Letter to President Putin from the Union of Ukrainians in Bashkiria, retrieved 28-12-2008
- ^ a b [Open letter to the Comissar of the OSCE from the Union of Ukrainians in the Urals Retrieved 11.20.07
- ^ The Ukrainian Pravda. Why Cannot Zhirinovsky and Zatulin Wash Their Feet in the Black Sea on the Ukrainian coast?Retrieved 11.20.07
- ^ The Ukrainian Weekly. 2003: The Year in Review. Diaspora Developments: news from East to West.Retrieved 11.20.07
- ^ Regarding the census in Russia and the rights of Ukainians. Retrieved 11.20.07
