Why exactly don’t Ukrainians Trust Moscow?

Actually, it’s historical and Moscow has left a centuries-long trail of reasons why it doesn’t deserve to be trusted by Ukrainians – and for that matter anybody else.

It doesn’t matter who occupies the corner office in the Kremlin or the prevailing ideology, Russia will never abandon its steadfast objective to subjugate Ukraine and erase the Ukrainian nation from the face of the earth. Whether tsarist, communist or today’s so-called federative regime, Moscow remains the same. Any illusion of commonality between Ukrainians and Russians spewed by the Kremlin simply favors Russian national achievements and the results of ill-gotten gains of Russia’s bloody aggression and imperialism.

Ukrainians’ justified distrust of Russians is also based on the Kremlin’s belief that Ukrainians are in fact the moronic little brothers of Moscow worthy of being deceived, mislead, betrayed, cheated, hoodwinked, tricked, duped, deluded, invaded, starved, killed and conquered for the sake of Holy Mother Russia.

That’s why today, it matters not if Vladimir Putin or someone else occupies the corner office in the Kremlin. Russia’s aggressive, belligerent and imperialistic mentality will not change regardless of summits, handshakes, accords and sanctions. Furthermore, contemporary polls show that Russians, themselves, are not willing to oust peacefully or otherwise their führer.

I recently came across a dramatic retelling of history of Ukrainian independence 100 years ago that substantiates this observation. As editor of The Ukrainian Quarterly, a 76-year-old journal of Ukrainian and international affairs published by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, I encounter many scholarly articles about Ukraine and Russia. One of them is a poignant case in point.

It is titled “National Revolution in Ukraine, 1917-1919” by Nicholas D. Czubatyj (1889-1975), the first editor of The Quarterly. The article from the inaugural edition of 1944, elaborates on the events leading up to the declaration of independence of Ukraine, the establishment of the Ukrainian National Republic and its unification with the Western Ukrainian National Republic on January 22, 1919. Tapping into Ukrainian and Russian sources, Czubatyj demonstrates the high degree of national euphoria among all classes and segments of the Ukrainian nation and its active participation in the processes leading up to independence from what they called the despotic Russian empire. Despite Russian and others’ propaganda to the contrary, he points out that the nation comprehended the servile position of Ukraine in relation to Russia and unwaveringly supported independence. Mass rallies, parades, conventions, congresses and meetings were held in the spirit of the national aspirations that ultimately led to complete independence and sovereignty from the Russian empire.

Czubatyj also wrote about the hatred for Ukraine not only by the Russian tsarist supporters but by their opponents from the Russian Bolshevik and democratic liberal camps. Consequently, it doesn’t matter if Putin or a contemporary Russian liberal democrat is in the Kremlin. Ukraine and the other former captive nations will always be in danger.

Czubatyj wrote of those historical days: “The Ukrainian Legion bore on its flags the slogan, ‘War against Russia for the freedom of the Ukrainian nation.’ The same slogan was accepted by the political organization of an all-Ukrainian character, the League for the Liberation of Ukraine, which was organized in Lviv at the very outset of the World War. Its membership consisted of Western Ukrainians under Austria and of political emigrés from Russia. The Ukrainians under Russia at that time had only a secret organization – the Organization of Ukrainian Progressives.” In the inter-war era, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists similarly adopted as one its mottos “Kyiv against Moscow.”

Under the spiritual helm of Prof. Mykhailo Hrushevsky, the first president of Ukraine, Ukrainians on both sides of the Dnipro began to act on their aspirations and sculpt a truly independent and sovereign mentality. Initially, some Ukrainians were under the misplaced delusion that supporting Russia in its quest would contribute to the demise of the tsarist regime and bring freedom to the people. However, Russia being Russia soon squashed this false belief.

“The first months after the outbreak of the Russian revolution proved the fallacy of this idea and vindicated the minority who insisted upon full independence for the Ukrainians. The Russian democratic parties concealed their imperialistic policies with phrases regarding the community of interests of all Russia democracy, and said that these interests would be imperiled by a confederated Ukraine. The Bolsheviks voiced attractive phrases about the rights of every nation in Russia to self-determination and even separation, but, at the same time, their specialist in nationality affairs, Comrade Stalin, explained that this separation hinged upon whether or not it was harmful to the Communist Party of the proletariat. Naturally the separation of wealthy Ukraine from centralistic Russia would always be harmful to the Communist Party of the proletariat in Russia, and therefore in practice the stand of the Communists did not differ in the slightest from that of the reactionaries,” Czubatyj wrote, highlighting Moscow’s enduring intention of lying to achieve its goal.

The Ukrainian scholar, an eye witness in and participant of the events as well as colleague of Hrushevsky continued: “Thus it was no wonder that after a few months of the Russian revolution, when ‘the holiday of the revolution ended and the weekdays arrived,’ as expressed by Hrushevsky, then president of the Ukrainian Revolutionary Parliament, all the Ukrainian political groups quickly abandoned their former federalistic program for Ukraine and began to advocate the platform of full independence. The fall of Austria at the end of the war enabled the Austrian Ukraine to unite with Eastern Ukraine and to realize not only the ideal of independence, but also the ideal of a United Ukrainian Democratic Republic.”

Czubatyj also pointed out that it was not so easy to carry into effect the resolutions of the All-National Ukrainian Congress. The civil administration and the army control were in the hands of the Russians who after the Revolution feigned being democratic, but who had no intention of obeying the Ukrainian Central Rada – more treachery. They heeded the orders of the Russian Provisional Government in Petrograd. Here and there orders of the Central Rada were executed by Ukrainians in the administration and in the army, but by no means did the Rada have complete control.

The formation of a Ukrainian government was initiated by the previously clandestine political organization, the Organization of Ukrainian Progressives, which had an understanding with the Ukrainian Socialist parties in Kyiv. The revolution in Ukraine became moderate in character because it tried to be not only national but also social in character. The independent nationalists headed by attorney Mykola Mikhnovsky, Dr. Lutsenko and others were forced at the outset to remain in the background. However, thanks again to Russian deceit, they gradually came out into the open. The political and military leadership and people realized that attempts to fulfill Ukrainian national aspirations within the framework of a Russian plan proved hopeless because of the resistance of Russian democracy itself. Then the majority of Ukrainian socialists joined them in their political program of complete independence for Ukraine.

With an ironic nod toward future discussions about the possibility of a righteous Russian leader of Russia, a Russian-language newspaper in Kyiv of the day thus summarized the mood of the nation: “Here and there a Ukrainian volunteer spoke harshly: ‘The Russian democracy is against us; it is against Ukraine.’”

The current generation of Ukrainians in Ukraine and the diaspora must see to it that the nation abides by the lessons learned a century ago.

For information about The Ukrainian Quarterly, contact the UCCA office at 203 Second Ave., New York, NY 10003 or www.ucca.org.