Full interview with Dr. Olexander Hryb on his book "Understanding Contemporary Ukrainian and Russian Nationalism: The Post-Soviet Cossack Revival and Ukraine’s National Security," London, England, United Kingdom, 27 December 2021.
Partial transcript
- 0:15 A 17th century map of Ukraine published in Holland. Map has a Polish court of arms, inscriptions in Latin and Polish. Ukraine was known as a country by European geographers
- 1:06 Ukraine was recognized in 17th century Europe while the Moscow principality was known as Muscovy. The term Russia was introduced by Peter the Great (Peter I) later in 1721. The Kremlin fights for the legacy of Ukraine-Rus'
- 1:57 Source of inspiration for writing this book, research. Cossacks were a new "social movement"
- 3:29 Definition of nationalism, theory of nationalism
- 3:37 Ernest Gellner. Nationalism is a political principle, one culture should coincide with one state
- 3:56 Nationalism is a complex belief system that humankind is naturally divided into nations, compatible cultures
- 5:40 Compatibility of nation states and political organizations such as the European Union. The state is not organized around one culture
- 6:07 Jürgen Habermas. Brexit illustrated that the nation state is not going to wait for a global society or post-nation state structure
- 8:55 From the very beginning Ukraine adopted and built a civic nation including all ethnic communities, religions, etc.
- 10:52 History of Cossacks. Few works in English on the history of Cossacks. Few people in the West know the differences and distinctions between Ukrainian Cossack traditions and Russian Cossack traditions. Ukrainian Cossacks evolved from the 14th century. Settled in Khortystia (Хортиця) near Zaporizhzhia (Запоріжжя). Karl Marx said the "Cossacks in Ukraine created the first Christian republic"
- 12:30 Membership criteria for being a Ukrainian Cossack: One must be Christian, and one must acknowledge the jurisdiction of the otaman
- 13:07 Russian Cossacks had a similar social origin but initially settled on the Don river and moved around Russia, Urals, Far East. Russian cossacks were farmers who paid tribute to the Tsar. After Catherine destroyed the sich in Khortytsia, Ukrainian Cossacks moved to the Danube River and created the Danubian Sich (Задунайська Сiч)
- 14:52 Kuban Cossacks spoke Ukrainian up until the 1930s, but mostly lost their Ukrainian identity
- 15:06 Russian Cossacks were preserved as settled farmers until Bolshevik revolution, Russian civil war. Russian Cossacks ended in WW2. Last Ukrainian Cossack host ended in the late 18th century, early 19th century. Both saw a different revival. Ukrainian Cossacks had to be revived because there was not living tradition.
- 17:00 Russian Federation legislation recognizes Cossacks as separate ethnic community. In Ukraine, Cossacks are identified as NGOs. Russia has a hierarchy of ethnic communities. Reinvention of ethnicity in the modern world
- 19:00 Contemporary Cossack movement in Ukraine and Russia
- 30:53 Cossack revival in Ukraine after 1991
- 34:51 Nationalism in Ukraine vs nationalism in Russia
- 36:20 Map of Eurasian world, Eurasianism
- 38:22 Portrayal of nationalism in Ukraine
- 40:54 How well has Ukraine managed and addressed nationalism?
- 41:39 Leonid Kuchma with Russian President Vladimir Putin (December 2001).
- 43:57 How Ukrainians defended their country after Russia invaded Ukraine
- 47:04 Photographs of Black Sea Cossacks. The modern reinvention of traditions, cossacks in Odesa region, Nerubayske Cemetery (Нерубайское Кладбище), Danubian Sich (Задунайська Сiч)
- 49:48 Role of Russian Cossacks in Donbas, Russian invasion of Ukraine
- 51:14 Acknowledgments
This content is the private opinion of Dr. Olexander Hryb and does not reflect the position of the UK MOD.
Available from Columbia University Press
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Video by UkeTub Ukrainian Video. This video was not sponsored.
