Russification of Ukraine

The Russification of Ukraine (Ukrainian: русифікація України or зросійщення України; Russian: русификация Украины) was a system of measures, actions and legislations undertaken by the Imperial Russian, later Soviet, and present-day authorities of the Russian Federation to strengthen Russian national, political and linguistic positions in Ukraine. Like in other countries of Eastern Europe historically ruled by Russian political regimes, Russification in Ukraine aims to assimilate the local population and has been conducted through a wide array of measures, including introduction of Russian language in school education and state institutions, promotion of mixed marriages, ideological, political and cultural indoctrination, displacement of population etc.

Background

In 1648, Ruthenian commander Bohdan Khmelnytsky began an armed insurgency against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, known as the Khmelnytsky Uprising. This uprising was successful at ending Polish rule in Dnieper Ukraine, and the local Cossack population established the Cossack Hetmanate. By 1654, the Cossack Hetmanate controlled land encompassing much of present-day Ukraine. To increase pressure on Polish forces, the Cossacks conducted negotiations with the Tsardom of Russia to gain their support. This culminated in the signing of the Pereiaslav Agreement, where Cossack leader Khmelnytsky secured Russian military support in exchange for swearing allegiance to the Tsar of Russia. This agreement angered the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and led to the Russo-Polish War. The resulting Truce of Andrusovo in 1667 defined the territories of each state, where Russia gained control over Left-bank Ukraine, including the entire city of Kiev, and Poland-Lithuania would keep their control of Right-bank Ukraine. This began Russia's presence in Ukraine, which contributed greatly to the process of Russification. In the opinion of scientist Vladimir Vernadsky (1863–1945), by the 17th century, Muscovy already had a long-standing policy to absorb Ukraine and liquidate the foundation for local cultural life.

Russian Empire In order to modernize his state, Peter I, the first Emperor of Russia, hired a number of Ukrainian intellectuals, who conceived the idea of political continuity from Kyiv to Moscow and developed the concept of "Little Russia" (Ukraine) as opposed to "Greater Russia" (Muscovy) as parts of a common state project. As a result, the Russian Empire could be considered to be a brainchild of Ukrainians, who underlined their symbolical status as co-founders and co-owners of the empire. However, with time "Little Russia" was downgraded to the status of a mere province, and its elites had to suffice themselves with the role of regional administrators. This process culminated in the abolition of the autonomy of the Cossack Hetmanate in 1764 and was accompanied with both Russification of the local elite, as well as mass resettlement of ethnic Russians into Ukrainian lands.

Peter I and his successors

The increasing limitation of Ukrainian autonomy following the Battle of Poltava in 1709 constributed to the process of Russification. In 1720 Tsar Peter I of Russia issued a decree in which he ordered the expurgation of all Little Russian (Ukrainian) linguistic elements in theological literature printed in Little Russian typographical establishments. In 1734 Empress Anna Ioannovna issued a secret instruction to the Governing Council of the Hetman Office led by Prince Shakhovskoy, ordering him to introduce a policy of assimilation between Ukrainians and Russians through promotion of mixed marriages.

Catherine the Great

Status of the Cossack Hetmanate Among those who helped Catherine II ascend to the Russian throne through a coup was Kirill Razumovsky, the president of the Imperial Academy of Sciences and Hetman of the autonomous Cossack state, the Hetmanate. The Hetman's plans for Cossack Ukraine were extensive and included strengthening its autonomy and institutions; many in the Hetmanate were hopeful for Catherine's rule, but would soon realise her policy towards them. In the fall of 1762, a few months after Catherine's coronation, a scribe in Hlukhiv, the capital of the Hetmanate, named Semen Divovych, produced the poem "A Conversation between Great Russia and Little Russia"

"Great Russia: Do you know with whom you are speaking, or have you forgotten? I am Russia, after all: do you ignore me?" Little Russia: Some historians perceive these passages to show that the Hetmanate and those within it believed they were connected to the Russian Empire not by a common nation or fatherland but only by the name and the person of the ruler.

Abolition of the Hetmanate

In February 1764, a few months before the liquidation of the office of Hetman, Catherine wrote to the Prosecutor General of the Senate Prince Alexander Vyazemsky:

"Little Russia, Livonia, and Finland are provinces governed by confirmed privileges, and it would be improper to violate them by abolishing all at once. To call them foreign and deal with them on that basis is more than erroneous-it would be sheer stupidity. These provinces, as well as Smolensk, should be Russified as gently as possible so that they cease looking to the forest like wolves. When the Hetmans are gone from Little Russia, every effort should be made to eradicate from memory the period and the hetmans, let alone promote anyone to that office." In 1764, Catherine summoned Razumovsky to St. Petersburg and removed him as hetman. Then in November, she published a decree that officially abolished the position of Hetman and integrated the regional government as the Little Russia Governorate in the Russian Empire. These territories were later redrawn as the Kiev, Chernigov, and Novgorod-Seversky Governorates in the Empire. Following the incorporation of the Hetmanate into the Empire, the Cossack officers gradually integrated into the Russian structure, though often with difficulty as many maintained attachment to their traditional homeland. All institutions of the Hetmanate were abolished within a decade. According to historian Serhii Plokhy, "the abolition of the Hetmanate and the gradual elimination of its institution and military structure ended the notion of partnership and equality between Great and Little Russia imagined by generations of Ukrainian intellectuals."

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