At the end of January, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed a decree on "Russian Territories Historically Inhabited by Ukrainians," which includes measures aimed at "preserving the national identity of Ukrainians" in Russia.
"This is the restoration of the truth about the historical past for the sake of Ukraine's future," Zelensky said in a video address on his country's annual Day of Unity.
The published decree states that the Kiev government has been instructed to develop and submit an action plan to the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine concerning a number of historical Russian borderlands - namely, Kuban Region and Starodubshchyna, as well as northern and eastern Slobozhanshchyna, which correspond to Russia's present-day Krasnodar, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk, and Rostov regions.
The government will also have to "debunk Russian myths about Ukraine" and "develop interaction between Ukrainians and the peoples enslaved by Russia."
"For centuries, Russia has systematically committed and continues to commit acts aimed at destroying [Ukrainian] national identity, oppressing Ukrainians, violating their rights and freedoms, including on lands which they had historically inhabited," Zelensky said.
Despite its declarative tone, the decree caused fierce controversy in both Ukrainian and Russian media. Although the document is mainly informational (especially given the failure of last year's counteroffensive and the difficult situation at the front), it demonstrates that, for Ukraine's political elite, the military conflict isn't the only problem; there is also the issue of the two conflicting "visions" of the post-Soviet space and its political, cultural, and economic transformation. Russia's vision is multinational, conservative, and focused on sovereignty, while Ukraine's is mono-ethnic, Westernized, and focused on globalization....<<<Read More>>>...