Dehumanization of Ukrainians and demonization of Ukraine by Russian historiography as a tool to justify the so-called “SVO”
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Abstract. The purpose of the article is to analyze the latest (for 2022–2023) scientific literature of Russian “humanitarian scientists” devoted to the large-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, in order to find out the methods and means of justifying this crime of aggression, which are disseminated by them in the form of scientific interpretations of “compulsion” of the so-called “SVO”, accusations towards Ukraine that it seemed to provoke the Russian invasion and efforts, against this background, to create the most negative “image of the enemy” as an existential threat.
The scientific novelty. Since the beginning of the invasion to Ukraine by Russian troops, the Kremlin’s propaganda in an intensified mode began to plant narratives about the only “Ukrain’s guilt” in the war. One of the most noticeable trends within the framework of the mentioned issues is the interpretation by Russian “scientists” of the large-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which began in February 24, 2022, as a forced, necessary, natural and completely logical event. The main element of the construction of the “SVO myth” in the narratives of Russian “scientists” is the strengthening of the stereotype “Ukraine is the main existential enemy”. For this purpose, the ethnic “depravity” of Ukrainians and the elimination of their national identity are postulated in a negative-emotional and frankly chauvinistic manner, combined with a complete falsification of the Ukraine’s history. Modern Russian “humanitarian science”, justifying and supporting the aggressive war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, consciously and consistently adheres to the main postulates of the quasi-ideology of “rashism (ruscism)”.
Conclusions. Russian historiography (like the rest of academic “humanitarian studies”), instead of scientific objectivity, relays exclusively propagandist narratives aimed at demonizing Ukraine and dehumanizing Ukrainians in the interpretation of the causes and course of the large-scale Russian-Ukrainian war. All so-called “Russian humanitarianism” is an anti-scientific phenomenon, designed primarily to serve the Kremlin’s genocidal policy and propaganda. In general, the Russian segment of “humanitarian science” is mainly characterized by a discourse of hatred, in which there is no place to search for the truth.
Article Details
References
References
Smoliy, V., Yas, O. (2022). Ukrainian socio-humanitarianism of the wartime: challenges, prospects, opportunities. Ukrains’kyj istorychnyj zhurnal [Ukrainian historical journal], 4, 55–70. DOI: 10.15407/uhj2022.04.055 [in Ukrainian].
Udod, O. (2023). Russian-Ukrainian historiographical war: lecture. Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
Lysenko, O. (2022). Phenomenology of Russia’s war against Ukraine as an object of humanitarian research. Visnyk Natsional’noi akademii nauk Ukrainy [Bulletin of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine], 7, 85–98. DOI: 10.15407/visn2022.07.085 [in Ukrainian].
Kalakura, Ya. (2022). Ideological legitimation of wars of aggression and construction of the image of the enemy in Russian historiography. Ukrains’kyj istorychnyj zhurnal [Ukrainian historical journal], 4, 93–108. DOI: 10.15407/uhj2022.04.093 [in Ukrainian].
Kulchytskyi, S. (2023). Racism vs Leninism? Reflections of a historian at the turn of the epochs. Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
Higgins C. Historians come together to wrest Ukraine’s past out of Russia’s shadow. The Guardian. 2023, 29 Nov. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/29/historians-come-together-to-wrest-ukraines-past-out-of-russias-shadow.
Makoeva, E., Kurashinova, A. (2022). The essence of the categories “war” and “special military operation”. Pravo i upravlenie [Law and management], 9, 13–17. DOI: 10.24412/2224-9125-2022-9-13-17 [in Russian].
Kipreev, S. (2023). Political patriotism: denazification and demilitarization – the first stage. What should you do next? Obraz Rodiny: soderzhanie, formirovanie, aktualizaciya [Image of the Motherland: content, formation, actualization], 141–146. Moscow [in Russian].
Shushpanova, I. (2023). Consolidation and anxiety of civil society. In: Levashov, V. (ed.). Russian society and state in conditions of global multipolarity. Socio-political situation in Russia in 2022, 12–46. Moscow [in Russian].
Makoeva, E. (2022). On the role of cyber attacks in a special military operation. Obrazovanie i pravo [Education and law], 8, 140–142 [in Russian].
Ryvkin, S. (2023). The Holy War against Nazism in the 21st Century. The main process of humanity. In: Evstratova, Yu. (ed.) Nuremberg alarm, 21–27. St. Petersburg [in Russian].
Tsedilina, E. (2022). Ukrainian Front of the USA. Rossiya i novye gosudarstva Evrazii [Russia and the new states of Eurasia], 4, 9–21. DOI: 10.20542/2073-4786-2022-4-9-21 [in Russian].
Sokolov, R., Melnikov, A. (2023). The use of private military companies within the framework of the Northern Military District in Ukraine: a review. Tehnologii socialno-gumanitarnyh issledovanij [Technologies of social and humanitarian research], 2, 115–123 [in Russian].
Mikhailenko, A. (2023). Ukrainian crisis in the context of the formation of a new world order. Bolshaya Evraziya: razvitie, bezopasnost, sotrudnichestvo [Greater Eurasia: development, security, cooperation], 6/1, 250–253 [in Russian].
Narrative warfare: How the Kremlin and Russian news outlets justified a war of aggression against Ukraine. (2023). Atlantic Council. Retrieved from: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/report/narrative-warfare.
Manoilo, A. (2022). Information sabotage in the conflict in Ukraine. Vestnik Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo oblastnogo universiteta [Bulletin of the Moscow State Regional University] (electronic journal), 4, 107–116. Retrieved from: www.evestnik-mgou.ru. [in Russian].
Kobzar, P., Nagaev, I. (2022). Fictional Ukraine and real genocide: the role of hybrid technologies of the West in inciting a military conflict in Ukraine. Transformation of modern war, 8–18. Omsk [in Russian].
Streletsky, Y. (2022). Aspects of socio-political security in Russia in the context of the Special Military Operation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Ukraine: philosophical and political analysis. Kant, 3, 167–172. DOI: 10.24923/2222-243Х.2022-44.30 [in Russian].
Nebrenchin, S. (2023). Special military operation in Ukraine - 2022: war with the collective West. Greater Eurasia: development, security, cooperation Bolshaya Evraziya: razvitie, bezopasnost, sotrudnichestvo [Greater Eurasia: development, security, cooperation], 6/1, 287–290 [in Russian].
Snyder, T. (2022). We Should Say It. Russia Is Fascist. The New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/opinion/russia-fascism-ukraine-putin.html.
Kiknadze, V. (2022). Ukrainian nationalism: from origins to denazification during a special military operation of the Russian army. Nauka. Obshestvo. Oborona [The science. Society. Defense], 10/3. Retrieved from: https://www.noo-journal.ru/nauka-obsestvo-oborona/2022-3-32/article-0324 [in Russian].
Modestov, S. (2022). Political and legal aspects of the fight against terrorism within the framework of a special military operation. Mezhdunarodnoe sotrudnichestvo evrazijskih gosudarstv: politika, ekonomika, pravo [International cooperation of Eurasian states: politics, economics, law], 2, 52–59 [in Russian].
Tambiyants, Yu., Grin, V., Gnatenko, N. (2022). Northern Military District as a reflection of the civilizational confrontation between Russia and the West. In: Bulavina, М., Gerasimov, V. (ed.). Russia and Donbass: prospects for cooperation and integration, 146–152. Moscow [in Russian].
Brovar, A., Revizskaya, Yu. (2023). Special operation in the LPR and DPR: patriotic consolidation of society in the face of external and internal threats. In: Zaitsev, A. (ed.). Problems of national security of Russia: lessons from history and challenges of our time, 78–84 [in Russian].
The myth that the Ukrainian nation was invented by the Austrian General Staff. Ukrainian Institute of National Memory. Retrieved from: https://uinp.gov.ua/informaciyni-materialy/antymif/mif-pro-te-shcho-ukrayinsku-naciyu-vygadav-avstriyskyy-genshtab [in Ukrainian].
Epstein, M. (2023). Russian antiworld. Politics on the brink of apocalypse. New York [in Russian].
Litvinov, N., Rodionov, D., Salnikov, M. (2023). The neo-Nazi state of Ukraine is a source of sabotage and terrorist threats to the national security of Russia: criminological and counterintelligence aspects. Yuridicheskaya nauka: istoriya i sovremennost [Legal science: history and modernity], 2, 95–131 [in Russian].
Samoilov, S. (2023). Terrorist organization regiment “Azov” as a political and legal phenomenon in Ukraine. Obshestvo i pravo [Society and law], 2, 85–89 [in Russian].
Latypov, R. (2022). Special military operation in Ukraine: situational analysis. Ekonomika i upravlenie: nauchno-prakticheskij zhurnal [Economics and management: scientific and practical journal], 2, 134–137. DOI: 10.34773/EU.2022.2.24 [in Russian].
Hrytsak, Yа. (2023). Interview with A. Noritsynа about Putin’s goal in the war against Ukraine. Zaxid. net. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybWBtMfzVcc&ab_channel=ZAXID.NET [in Ukrainian].
Kuzio, T. (2023). Crooked mirror: why Putin is so fixated on Nazism. Gazeta.ua. Retrieved from: https://gazeta.ua/blog/60267/krive-dzerkalo-chomu-putin-tak-zaciklivsya-na-nacizmi [in Ukrainian].
Korabelnikov, A., Melnik, S., Solovyov, A. (2023). Transformation of the quality of science and education through the lessons of a special military operation. Current issues of vocational education: quality, priorities, technologies, 148–151. Omsk [in Russian].
Martyanov, N., Tanich, V. (2023). Special military operation in Ukraine as a response to the challenge of Western civilization to destroy Russia. Yakovlev readings, 254–258. Novosibirsk [in Russian].
Markov, S. (2023). Logic of a special military operation. In: Zaitsev, А. (ed.). Problems of national security of Russia: lessons from history and challenges of our time, 285–293. Krasnodar [in Russian].
See: www.azovcontrafake.com.
Konurov, A. (2023). The essence and meaning of the fascist renaissance in Ukraine and in the world and the current tasks of the fight against it. Trends in the development of the system of international relations and their impact on the management of national defense of the Russian Federation, 177–188. Moscow [in Russian].
Starostenko, K., Gorodnina, O. (2022). Special military operation for the liberation of Donbass: reasons and specifics of its implementation. In: Bulavina, М., Gerasimov, V. (ed.). Russia and Donbass: prospects for cooperation and integration, 138–145 [in Russian].
Nikonov, V. (2023). Special military operation and the new world order. Gosudarstvennoe upravlenie [Public administration], 99, 7–34. DOI: 10.24412/2070-1381-2023-99-7-34 [in Russian].
Shatilov, A. (2022). Analytical support of the special military operation of Russia: experience of the first stage. Gumanitarnye nauki. Vestnik Finansovogo universiteta [Humanitarian sciences. Bulletin of the Financial University], 12, 16–21. DOI: 10.26794/2226-7867-2022-12-3-16-21 [in Russian].
Shamarov, P. (2023). The concept of sovereign statehood as Russia’s national response to the destructive policies of the collective West. Foreign policy interests of Russia: history and modernity, 195–202. Samara [in Russian].
Malinetsky, G. (2022). Strategic stability and Russian special operation in Ukraine. Part 2. IA Regnum. Retrieved from: https://regnum.ru/article/3637946 [in Russian].
Litvinenko, V. (2022). The essence of the categories “war” and “special military operation”. Armejskij sbornik [Army collection], 7, 15–24 [in Russian].
Yakubova, L. (2023). Russian-Ukrainian “historical wars”: introduction to the discourse of hatred and destruction. Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
Shitko, V. (2023). On the issue of “imperial ambitions” of Russia. In: Tashpekova, А., Sovkich, Р. (ed.). USSR as a historical phenomenon: on the 100th anniversary of its formation, 329–337. Saratov [in Russian].
Arbatov, A. (2022). Ukrainian crisis and strategic stability. Polis [Policy], 4, 10–31. DOI: 10.17976/2022.04.03 [in Russian].
Sveshnikova, I. (2023). Cognitive technologies for the destruction and restoration of the trinity of Holy Rus. In: Zaridze, G. (ed.). The main problems of preserving and strengthening traditional spiritual and moral values in the Russian education system: collective monograph, 242–247. Voronezh [in Russian].
Fortunatov, V. (2022). Special military operation as a way out of the methodological impasse in the humanities. In: Bugasheva, S. et al. (ed.). Turning points in history: people, events, research, 1, 496–501. St. Petersburg [in Russian].
Malinetsky, G. (2022). Strategic stability and Russian special operation in Ukraine. Part 1. IA Regnum. Retrieved from: https://regnum.ru/article/3637280 [in Russian].
Miller, A. (2022). National identity in Ukraine: history and politics. Rossiya v globalnoj politike [Russia in global politics], 20(4), 46–65. Retrieved from: https://globalaffairs.ru/articles [in Russian].
Yargin, S. (2023). The conflict around Ukraine: a sober view and peace initiative. E-Scio, 2, 78–86 [in Russian].
Redkous, V. (2023). On the prospects for the formation of a federal district on the basis of new subjects of the Russian Federation. Pravovaya politika i pravovaya zhizn [Legal policy and legal life], 2, 123–132. DOI: 10.24412/1608-8794-2023-2-123–132 [in Russian].
Kashuba, Y. (2022). Synchronization of the legislation of the Russian Federation and a number of friendly state entities. Yurist-Pravoved [Lawyer-Legalist], 3, 129–132 [in Russian].
Kalita, V. (2022). Political prospects for a special military operation in Ukraine. In: Bulavina, М., Gerasimov, V. (ed.). Russia and Donbass: prospects for cooperation and integration, 89–92. Moscow [in Russian].