Society & Politics

Russia and the Ukraine crisis understanding Russia’s perspective [part 2]

QuestionMan

Last time I left off with the far right nationalist group known as Right Sector which Russia considers fascist. To fully understand who they are we need to look at Ukraine’s history when it comes to its struggle for independence.


The Russian Revolution of 1917


Russia and the Ukraine crisis understanding Russia’s perspective [part 2]


At the time the conflict was not merely between the Whites and the Reds as is often told, but against the nationalist movements of newly developing countries and anarchist movements as well. Some nationalist movements were more successful than others. For example Finland was able to gain independence and hold onto it while other up and coming nations were quickly repressed. The Baltic States gained temporary independence but lost it a few years after as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.


Russia and the Ukraine crisis understanding Russia’s perspective [part 2]


Ukraine unlike the other nations stood no chance in achieving independence. The Central government was first lead by the Ukrainian People’s Republic then by an aristocrat named Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky in 1918 and then again by the Ukrainian People’s Republic until 1921 when the Soviets took over.

Russia and the Ukraine crisis understanding Russia’s perspective [part 2]
Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky


During this whole time of infighting Ukraine signed a peace treaty with the Central Powers in hopes of receiving military assistance against Russia in exchange for food. The boundaries that were recognized by the Central Powers angered the ethnic Poles which in turn started fighting for their own independence. Even with German military aid to fight off the Reds, the Ukrainian government was too disorganized to provide payment, so the Germans took the food by force and left. With the Poles gaining independence and invading from the west, the Reds allying with the anarchists and invading from the east, the Ukrainian leader Symon Petliura decided to give up Polish claimed land to Poland in exchange for military aid.

Russia and the Ukraine crisis understanding Russia’s perspective [part 2]
Symon Petliura


This ended the war in the west and gave much needed aid in the war against the Reds and anarchists. Sadly the Poles were no match for the Russians so they retreated back into their territory, but holding on to the territory given to them by Petliura. With the Ukrainian nationalists defeated, the Reds turned on the anarchists lead by Nestor Makhno and established the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.


Russia and the Ukraine crisis understanding Russia’s perspective [part 2]
Famous anarchist Nestor Makhno


Soviet rule


Russia and the Ukraine crisis understanding Russia’s perspective [part 2]


In the beginning of Soviet rule, Ukraine noticed a period of cultural growth since Ukrainian was being taught alongside Russian in schools for the first time. Literacy rose significantly and the arts as well experienced a boom. Sadly this didn’t last since Ukrainians called for each republic to practice its own version of communism and not be solely governed by Moscow. Believe it or not, the original framework of the Soviet Union was similar to the UK today, with each country having its own parliament and autonomy. In response the Soviets responded by murdering political opponents (this is known as the Great Purge) and starving off the population so they could sell the crops and grow the Soviet economy. This mass starvation is called Holodomor (literary translates to Extermination by hunger) or the Ukrainian Holocaust.


Russia and the Ukraine crisis understanding Russia’s perspective [part 2]


The pictures of the victims are very disturbing. I decided not to post them so that people don't feel forced to see these images if they don't want to.


The Ukrainian response


As a response to forced collectivization Ukrainians started forming a military opposition. This opposition is known as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army or UPA for short (it’s UPA because the Ukrainian word for Insurgent starts with a P sound).


Russia and the Ukraine crisis understanding Russia’s perspective [part 2]


The UPA fought against the NKVD in efforts to protect the local population of Western Ukraine. The UPA at the time was lead by a man named Stepan Bandera.

Russia and the Ukraine crisis understanding Russia’s perspective [part 2]
Stepan Bandera


The fight against the NKVD had minor successes so when the opportunity presented itself; the UPA briefly allied itself with the Nazis. The Nazis in exchange for espionage on the Soviet Union and continued pogroms against the Jews; provided the UPA with weapons and supplies. When the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, the UPA as well as other collaborationist regimes did as well. With the Soviets gone from Ukrainian territory the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) the political entity behind the UPA declared Ukrainian independence. The Nazis in response arrested Stepan Bandera and many other Ukrainian nationalists and sent them to concentration camps. The euphoria of Soviet exodus allowed the Nazis to recruit a lot of Western Ukrainians into the Waffen SS unit known as SS Galician. Some Ukrainians joined the SS either for its anti-Bolshevist stance or to gain training and defect to the UPA, some stayed with the UPA while the vast majority stayed loyal to the Soviets as a better alternative than the Nazis. The UPA started to fight the Nazis but their successes were minimal due to poor organizations and low civilian support.


With the Soviet victory in Stalingrad, the Soviets began to push back the Nazis and the UPA began fighting both the Nazis and Soviets but their small force stood no chance against the advancing Red Army. During this time Stepan Bandera was released from Sachsenhausen concentration camp in hopes of slowing down the Soviet advance. The UPA once again aligned itself with the Nazis in exchange for funding in order to fight of the Soviet advance.


In 1959 Stepan Bandera was assassinated in Germany by the KGB. This made him a martyr to many Ukrainian nationalists.


While Ukrainians have the right to respect its heroes, the history of the Ukrainian liberation movement includes not only victorious battles for independence but also shameful episodes of ethnic cleansing, and arbitrary executions of presumed Soviet collaborators. Ukraine must examine the role of the UPA, known for fighting the Nazis and Red Army and trying to establish an independent state as well as for their massacre of Poles in Volhynia and other recorded atrocities.


Russian portrayal of nationalists


Russian media often shows clips similar to this one of people giving flowers to arriving Nazi soldiers when they arrived in Western Ukraine.




As well as this clip which is reused by Russian mainstream media which shows Ukrainians as part of SS Galician. The following video is in Ukrainian and talks about the original intention behind nationalists urging people to join, which was to create a unified anti-Soviet coalition with the Nazis at its head.




The Russian mainstream media only talks about the time when the UPA collaborated with the Nazis and the atrocities committed by the UPA against the civilian population. Although these things did happen, the Russian media goes out of their way to discredit the UPA and other anti-Soviet movements as fascist and refuse to acknowledge the UPA as an organization that fought for Ukrainian independence.


The Ukrainian political party and paramilitary organization Right Sector sees Stepan Bandera and the UPA as heroes of Ukraine as do many Western Ukrainians, while the rest of the country has mixed views of the UPA.


When a former Ukrainian president named Yuschenko declared Bandera and his comrade Roman Shukhevych national heroes, Western Ukrainians cheered but most Ukrainians as well as Poles and Russians found this move insulting to the victims of UPA terrorism. When Yanukovich came to power he nullified the hero status of these men.


The current Ukrainian government led by Poroshenko (aka Chocolate king since he owns the chocolate company Roshen) has recognized the UPA as heroes of Ukraine and is even going to give them military benefits.

Russia and the Ukraine crisis understanding Russia’s perspective [part 2]


Petro (Peter) Poroshenko


This of course is not without consequences in a country that is already divided.


To be concluded.

Russia and the Ukraine crisis understanding Russia’s perspective [part 2]
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