College Honors Program

Brotherly Nations? Russia, Ukraine, and a Crisis of Identity

Date of Creation

5-31-2023

Document Type

Campus Access Only

First Advisor

Olga Partan

Abstract

In February of 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine and launched a full-scale war within the country’s borders, the results of which have included mass death, infrastructural ruin, and a rift between the two peoples unprecedented in magnitude. Russia and Ukraine have historically been called “brotherly nations” or “brotherly peoples,” a term which many Ukrainians have renounced in light of present circumstances, but which the Russian establishment firmly clings to as part of a useful narrative which vindicates their actions over the past year. This piece explores the historical claims made by Russian President Vladimir Putin of unity and sameness, and the dynamic political landscape which has shaped the “brotherly nations” conversation over time, attempting to separate myth from reality. Additionally, on a “micro” scale, famed Ukraine-born “Russian” writer Nikolai Gogol, who himself possessed a dual identity, will be examined as a representative of the confusion caused by the combination of shared (or, alternatively, Russia-dominated) history and cultural distinctness, in an attempt to answer the questions: Can we really call Russia and Ukraine “brotherly nations” today, or is the term merely a Russian propagandistic construct? If so, how are we to conceive of the cultural overlap which persists between the two countries?

Comments

Reader: Sibelan Forrester, Swathmore College

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