Russians in Ukraine

Russians form the largest ethnic minority in Ukraine. In the 2001 Ukrainian census 8,334,100 identified themselves as ethnic Russians (17.3% of the total population), thereby making up the largest diaspora of the ethnic Russian population.

Geography

Most Russians, live in the East and South of Ukraine, as well as in many cities in the center of the country, as well as with minorities existing in western Ukraine. Crimea, Donbass and Taurida are considered to be home of the largest Russian diaspora.

Historic Background

After the demise of the Kievan Rus' and the centuries of separate histories, the distinct identities of the progenitors to contemporary Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians began to appear from the collective Ruthenian identity.

Growth of Ukrainian identity

The controversy of when did Ukrainians and Russians separate is an intellectual debate that continues, however the term "Ruthenian" continued to be employed right up to the end of the 19th century. A separate Ruthenian identity grew and strengthened with the rise of the Zaporozhian Cossacks and the Liberation wars of 1648. After their alliance with Tsardom of Russia after the Treaty of Pereyaslav and eventual incorporation of Ukraine into the Russian Empire, attempts were made to incorporate Ukrainians into the Russian nation. The territory of Ukraine was called Little Russia and its people Little Russians. While there were successes in the assimilation drive, by and large Ukrainian separate identity survived transforming from Ruthenian into Ukrainian.

The only Ruthenian province that remained outside Russia, Austrian Galicia, had a surge of Russophilia which lasted until the end of the 19th century. However, in the late the 19th and 20th centuries the Ukrainian national sentiment grew in all territories populted by Ukrainians. With the creation of first Ukrainian People's Republic and then the Ukrainian SSR Ukrainians achieved their statehood, albeit limited, and became the dominant ethnic group in the country.

Great Russians in Little Russia

At the end of the 18th century, the Russian Empire captured large territories from the former Crimean Khanate. A systematic colonisation of land that became known as New Russia (mainly Crimea, Taurida and around Odessa) began. Migrants from many ethnic groups came to this area, a great portion came from Russia proper. At the same time the discovery of Coal in the Donets Basin also began a large industrialization and influx of workers from other parts of the Russian Empire.

Although Little Russians made up a notable fraction of the migrants, most of the population became intermixed, and in the policy of Russification the Great Russian identity dominated over mixed families and communities. Ukrainian separatism was suppressed as the Russian Empire officialy regarded Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians (or Little, Great and White Russians) to be part of a single Russian nation. Thus they were considered members of an identical ethnic group and nominally there were no restrictions placed on them, unlike on other nationalities (notably Jews and Poles).

In these circumstances, during the Russian Empire Census of 1897, most mixed families in many regions of the country, listed their language as "Little Russian" (see Census results). Even though mixed Russo-Ukrainian dialects such as the surzhyk were listed as Little Russian as well, nonetheless this key piece of evidence would be one of the decisive factors to the region ending up in Ukraine.

File:Map of UNR and DKR.jpg

The (rough) borders between Little and New Russia were aligned when the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic (ДКР on the map) and Odessa Soviet Republic were proclaimed making up the latter. The Ukrainian People's Soviet Republic (УНР) is shown separately.

October Revolution and Ukrainian SSR

Ukraine was a battleground during the Russian Civil War (1918-1922). Although macroscopically Ukraine was fought over by several powers (Austro-Hungary, Germany, Poland); Ukrainian People's Republic, the Anarchist Black Army as well as the Red Army and the White Army. The population of New Russia by large, allied themselves only with the latter two. The vast majority of the armies of Denikin and Vrangel were made from volunteers from these areas. The October Revolution also found its echo amongst the extensive working class and two Soviet Republics were formed: Odessa and the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic.

Initially the Bolshevik government treated Little Russia, now officially recognized as Ukraine, separately with the Ukrainian Soviet People's Republic (USPR) forming shortly after the Revolution. However, gaining Ukraine was crucial for the Soviet government, and to do so required support of the Ukrainian people. The new nationalist states that were formed all stated borders of Ukraine that would include New Russia as well, and to avoid conflict, the Ukrainian SSR was also created by merging the two New Russian Soviet republics with USPR. This, with a notable exception of Crimea, placed the whole of New Russia, as well as many Russian regions, such as the eastern part of the Don Host Oblast were annexed into Ukraine.

After the Red Army victory in 1923, the still weak Soviet state saw the possibility nationalist uprisings as its biggest threat. Stalin identified two threats to the success of the party's "nationalities policy": Great Power Chauvinism (Russian chauvinism) and separatist nationalism. . In Ukraine's case both threats came from the New Russia and the east, and the traditional Ukrainian speaking centre and west respectfully. Thus a policy of Ukrainization began, to simultaneously break the Russian nationalistic spirit and to appease the Ukrainian population, thus recognizing their rights and their cultural dominance in the republic. (See Ukrainization in the UkSSR (1923-1931)).

Latter Soviet Times

In 1933 the Soviet Union was hit by a massive famine, Holodomor, from which as many as six million died in Ukrainian SSR alone. One of the worst hit areas became the Southern and Eastern region of the republic. At this time the Soviet state reversed its Ukrainization policies, forced the Ukrainian SSR to cede some territories to the RSFSR (notably the Shakhty and Taganrog borderland) and incorporated elements of Russian nationalism into a state policy .

Both the famine, the rapid industrialization, and the rebuilding of the WWII destruction prompted a new wave of migrants from the rest of the Soviet Union to settle in the Southern and Eastern Ukraine, thus encreasing the proportion of the Russian speaking population. However after the Death of Stalin, Nikita Khruschev in a controversial and, with respect to acting Soviet law illegal decision, transferred the exclusively Russian populated Crimea to Ukraine.

Ukraine

In a separate case during the Soviet-Romanian clash of influence over Bessarabia a separate Moldavian ASSR was created on the left bank of the Dniester, which was annexed into the Moldavian SSR in 1940. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a separatist state of Trans-Dniester was proclaimed. The official policy of the state recognises the New Russian heritage of Slavic residents.

Politics

Russians in Ukraine support those political groups who advocate for closer economic and cultural ties with Russia. The party that gets most of the support of the local Russians in Ukraine is the Party of Regions, but many also support the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Progressive Socialist Party.

Culture

See article: Russian language in Ukraine

See also

• Russian language in Ukraine