RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN CULTURAL CONFLICT: WAR AND/OR GENOCIDE?

Abstract

The Russian-Ukrainian cultural conflict has been going on for a long time and is essentially civilizational, because Russia cannot develop as a full-fledged civilization with statehood visions and traditions without enslaving Ukrainians and annihilating their national identity. The purpose of the article is to analyze the Russian – Ukrainian conflict as a cultural war and cultural genocide where the aggressive-enemy side is Russia which for many years, including the current full-scale war, has been trying to enslave Ukrainian lands and destroy manifestations of national, cultural, and political identity on them. Methodology of the research is based on the principles of objectivity, specificity, systematic analysis of the object of study, in the contradictory unity, interdependence and development of all its components, as well as using two approaches: neo-evolutionism in considering the genesis and dynamics of cultural conflicts and cultural anthropology in creating a cultural model of the Russian-Ukrainian confrontation. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the understanding of the Ukrainian-Russian cultural conflict through the prism of the categories of “cultural war” and “cultural genocide”. Conclusions. The declared struggle of the Russian authorities against “neo-Nazi gangs” conceals Russia’s Nazi colonialist goals for Ukraine, which, according to kremlin ideologues, should not exist as a separate political and cultural entity, and attempts to prevent this can be confidently qualified as a cultural war and cultural genocide of Ukrainians. And this civilizational conflict has actually existed for centuries, despite its acute phase: it all began with an ideological historiographical project, when, by order of Catherine II, a new framework for the history of the Russian Empire was constructed by “appropriating” the state victories and traditions of princely Rus (Kyivan state). It is proved that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict at different historical stages, especially in the format of a full-scale invasion, acquires signs of cultural genocide.