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Russian and Ukrainian societies are deeply polarized on several problematic narratives which present different views on the events in their shared history. Among such narratives are the Great Famine of 1932-33; dissolution of the Soviet Union and Ukraine acquiring independence in 1991; NATO and EU’s enlargement; the Euromaidan of 2013/14 and the subsequent conflicts in Crimea and Donbas.
Contrasting perceptions of these events of past and present were brought into focus by the German-Russian-Ukrainian dialogue project project “Broadening Contested Narratives Dialogue” implemented by inmedio peace consult gGmbH (Berlin), the Institute for Law and Public Policy (Moscow) and the Centre of Public Initiatives – Ideas for Change (Kyiv).
The Sakharov Centre and the Institute for Law and Public Policy have organized an expert discussion on the Project’s outcomes (the report is available in Russian at [ Ссылка ] and in English at [ Ссылка ]).
Experts used a mediative dialogue approach to address conflicting narratives and clarify those key historical points which often get twisted in biased discussions. An in-depth understanding of divisive narratives can pave the way for conflict mitigation and resolution.
Discussion video link (in Russian) - [ Ссылка ]
Contributing experts:
• Andreas Westphalen, freelance journalist, theatre and radio play director, co-author of the Russian-German dialogical memory project “Horchposten 1941”;
• Iryna Starovoyt, cultural analyst, professor of Cultural Studies, Ukranian Catholic University (Lviv), literary critic, PEN Ukraine member;
• Sergey Utkin, head of Strategic Assessment Section, lead researcher, IMEMO Center for Situational Analysis, Russian Academy of Sciences;
• Vasily Zharkov, historian, dean of Political Studies, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences;
• Konstantin Eggert, publicist, journalist, author of Telegram channel Oberleutnant_Eggert;
• Joseph Zisels, Jewish-Ukranian civil society activist member of the Supervision Board of the Ukranian Helsinki Human Rights Group.
Moderators — Boris Grozovsky, commentator, author of Telegram channel EventsAndTexts, and Olga Sidorovich, director of Institute for Law and Public Policy, editor-in-chief of scientific journal Comparative Constitutional Review.
1:13 – Introduction by Boris Grozovskyi: about the report “Gaps & Overlaps” and introduction of the discussion participants
11:58 – Olga Sidorovich on the process of the German-Russian-Ukrainian dialogue;
14:10 – On the first project report as the first step towards working with the contested narratives;
19:55 – On mediative dialogue as the project method;
23:48 – Sergei Utkin on organizing the work on the project, expected and achieved results;
35:58 – On difficulties in the dialogue between the project participants;
40:42 – Is there a problem with differences between the governments’ views on problematic issues? How was it solved in the project?
46:48 – Iryna Starovoyt on narrating identities in the project;
48:53 – How did the narrative on Holodomor 1932-1933 change in the last 10 years? How was the perception of it formed?
1:14:14 – Andres von Westphalen on the USSR dissolution as Russian, Ukranian and German narratives and the blind spots in this topic;
1:31:18 – On the pain behind the USSR dissolution and if it could have passed more peacefully?
1:37:40 – Vasily Zharkov on the narratives that were not included in the report;
1:39:30 – On the historiographic concept of Russia’s origin in the Kievan Rus;
1:47:47 – On the late USSR’s culture;
1:55:25 – On Russia’s transition into the post historic stage;
2:00:10 – Konstantin Egget on the lack of identity among contemporary Russians and the future of the postimperial Russia;
2:12:23 – Can Russia and Ukraine skip through the conflict stage and identity politics and live at peace?
2:26:44 – Is there a point in dialogue with Russia now?
2:31:23 – Yosyf Zisels on the civilization identity, mixed identities of the Ukranians and civilization areas;
2:44:27 – On what do the European path and European Choice mean for Ukraine?
2:49:15 – Final remarks.
