Russia’s war against Ukraine has exposed not just a conflict between our peoples, but even more importantly, a civilizational clash between our worlds. Indeed, Ukraine’s peace-loving policy and its European integration aspirations are the direct opposite of Russia’s definitive choice, as the latter country strives for empire-building flavored with Asian dictatorship. That dictatorship has changed names and approaches over the centuries, but its main vector, that of domination, has stayed intact. The geographic and historical proximity to the Kremlin’s empire is a brake that makes our pro-Western progress slip and acts as the force of gravity bringing us back to the defects of the past. That is why the Kremlin will make war on Ukraine not only with tanks and Grad rocket launchers, but above all with the shadows of imperial ideology, where Ukrainians were assigned the role of a satellite, a “fraternal” Soviet people without an identity and state agency of its own.
An illustrative example is the current condition of the occupied part of the Donbas, which is in the grip of isolation. The occupied territories of Ukraine have effectively become a laboratory flask where the Kremlin is conducting a terrible experiment in creating a running sore to poison the whole body of the country. Poverty, misery, the image of the Ukrainian (derogatory called “Ukr”) as the enemy, calls for a “strong hand” regime, playing to Soviet proletarian features of the populace – it all makes for an explosive cocktail that has been almost created already at the east edge of Ukraine. Therefore, erecting a monument to Joseph Stalin in Luhansk (incidentally, a similar monument was erected in Zaporizhia some years ago) and celebration of the State Security Officer Day in Russia, which is actually the Cheka anniversary (this “feast” started back on December 20, 1917, when the Council of People’s Commissars issued a decree on the creation of the Cheka) are ugly, but they are logical elements of the ideological war. Let us recall that some Donbas residents argued that the main achievement of the so-called “militia” was that “at least they do not overthrow Lenin monuments here.” This clinging to Bolshevik idols is not just a reflex reaction brought about by indoctrination. This is an indicative symptom of value split. We must be able to defend our values. Vladimir Putin is playing with both hands in this regard, as he is expanding his aggression while feigning a striving for “reconciliation.” And, admittedly, some examples of reconciliation dialogs on our part prove that we still fall for his trap.
These are double standards, different realities and objectives. As long as the parliament sees regular fights and quarrels between alleged “allies” which give the media the bones to chew, as long as some journalists (in Kyiv!) effectively call for recognition of terrorists as “desperate” citizens, as long as the National Guard troops, now performing rear area duties, are equipped much better than the Armed Forces of Ukraine that serve at the frontlines, as long as some people earn money from illegal coal pits and signing documents needed for nefarious activities – this war will not end.
“SEPARATISTS WANT TO ELEVATE STALINIST VALUES: DICTATORSHIP, DENUNCIATIONS, REPRESSION, EXECUTIONS...”
Yurii SHCHERBAK, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine (Retired), Ambassador for Peace of the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace:
“This is yet another confirmation of the true nature of the so-called ‘people’s republics’ in eastern Ukraine, which are actually hybrids of the Stalinist NKVD regime, Putin’s autocratic government and criminal gangs. This is the ideology of these quasi-states that have arisen as a cancer on our territory. They want to legitimize in the public consciousness the rough diktat of gunmen who take away businesses and rob people, destroy everything ideologically unacceptable for ‘the good of the republic.’ Understandably, they have chosen as their idol a criminal who is known worldwide as one of the bloodiest dictators in the humankind’s history. Stalin’s ‘fame’ comes from his bloody crimes, committed particularly against the Ukrainian people, and he is guilty of the Holodomor. Soon they will have monuments to other minions of the regime of violence, such as Klim Voroshilov. They do not say that the Donbas was the first region to suffer from Stalin’s food confiscations, and that many people died there from his actions and due to his orders. The separatists want to elevate Stalinist values: dictatorship, denunciations, repression, executions and more. They have no ‘ideology of people’s power’ in spite of their declarations, but rather one of tortures, NKVD-like underground dungeons and ethnic hatred. The Stalin bust is their ‘face’ that they show to the whole world. The aim of our information policy should be making the Western world aware of this notorious symbol of the aggression in the Donbas.”
“UKRAINIANS SUFFER FROM INABILITY TO CHANGE THEIR OUTLOOK FAST”
Levko LUKIANENKO, civic activist, Soviet-era dissident, and human rights activist:
“I look at the events that have been taking place for two years already as a civilizational clash. Russia’s Putin era actions have a clear ideological direction as it tries to revive the Russian Empire within the Soviet Union’s borders. Putin is consistently working on it. The Moscow elite never came to terms with the disintegration of 1991 and they do everything to bring Ukraine back under the authority of the Kremlin. Remember the famous saying of a Russian politician [actually, it belongs to Polish-American scholar Zbigniew Brzezinski. – Ed.] that ‘no Russian Empire is possible without Ukraine.’ Russia has had a diversified strategy in this regard. It has included ideological methods as well as economic ones, expanding the ‘fifth column,’ and ultimately military means. I think Russia did not plan a military offensive from the start. Rather, it was an exceptional response, but it is entirely explained by the abovementioned imperial aspirations. Erecting monuments to Stalin and celebrating the Cheka Day are in line with efforts to revive the Soviet empire. As soon as we will understand it, all the events and actions of the Kremlin will be explained. Nonetheless, these desires run contrary to the historical reality, as Russia is several generations behind the Western world civilization-wise. There was a museum of totalitarianism and political repression in the Perm region. Now this museum is remade to one celebrating the fight against subversion. That is, everything has been turned by 180 degrees. You can see how the current empire incorporates elements of not only the Soviet era, but the Tsarist one as well. The imperial reconstruction is seen as a state-building project. In this regard, it is clear what we should expect from Russia. On the other hand, it is also clear what Ukraine should do. We must not succumb to any promises or tricks from the Kremlin. We suffer from inability to change our outlook fast. All the presidents who did not put to the fore the issue of freeing the nation from the Kremlin’s ideological deception are to blame as well. In this respect, Putin did us a service when he attacked Ukraine, because by doing so he clearly demonstrated his goal. We have seen that we face not fellow Slavs, but Asians, not brothers, but enemies. Unfortunately, our government does not work to bring people back to the Ukrainian spiritual values. Our problem is that the national consciousness is still very low among us. Thus, the revival of these values comes only as a result of the instinct of national self-preservation, and it works very slowly.”
