Opinion: Ukraine crisis - back to Yalta

The EU's denial to set the Ukrainian crisis resolution on a ‘direct democracy’ track, preferring ‘diplomatic  ways’, is remiscent of the outdated style of the Yalta Conference (February 1945) in Crimea, when political leaders decided on a new world order for the 'good’ of people, but without consulting them.

However, after World War II, there were around 80 states, while nowadays there are more than two hundred and the number is constantly growing, inspired by the further development of democratic lifestyles that are respectful of people’s identities and cultures.

After the fall of Communism, new states appeared on the European map:  next to the Balkans, there was a new start for Czechs and Slovaks, who claimed that after the ‘divorce’, the relationship improved.  Nowadays, the Scots are on the way potentially to creating their own independent state, with a referendum scheduled for September. Direct democracy is definitely in.

There is no point in declaring the Crimean referendum ‘illegitimate’ in comparison to the ‘legitimate’ and ‘well-prepared’ Scottish one – it is not the fault of the Crimeans that their president was overthrown in a violent coup d’état and there is no ‘legitimate’ government to work with.

The insistence of the EU on keeping Ukrainian territorial integrity against all the odds, referring to the memorandums drawn up in the aftermath of the collapse of the USSR and ‘international obligations’ seem contradictory to the cause of history - in the modern world, cultural identity matters the most. The world has changed and one cannot today draw border lines on the map Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill once did at Yalta’s table.

The creation of the Ukrainian state by Lenin in the flames of civil war was a brilliant manouvre to defeat the Tsarist army of the White Gaurds. Ukrainians then outlawed ‘separatists’ and did their best to fight the White Gaurds, who stood firmly against what they called the ‘Balkanization’ of Russia.  The winners, the Communists, kept their promise by creating a state, completing it with traditional Russian provinces and supporting bilingualism.

The situation changed drastically after the downfall of the Communists, when the policy of  ‘Ukranization’ was launched. The two-decades struggle of the Russian-speaking population for their rights for linguistic and cultural identity resulted in a short period of upgrading Russian to a ‘regional’ language in the south-east in 2012. The achievement was lost in the aftermath of Maidan Square pro-European protests when the Rada removed the status. The gesture was taken as an offensive by Russian-speakers in the eastern provinces, where up to 90% of the population still considers it to be their mother tongue.

The comeback of the ‘Ukrainization’ policy, with the population identifying themselves as Russians, dropped the curtain on the ongoing drama of language policy that has consumed enormous energy, resources and time during the entire period of independence from 1991 onwards. The broad state programmes aiming to establish the Ukrainian language over the whole territory, including the traditional south-east, have been clearly rejected by the population, who have realized that European integration means the eradication of their identity.

No point in blaming the Kremlin over the current schism - the Rada’s decision over the Russian language proved to be fatal for the project of creating a Ukrainian nation of territories assembled within different political contexts by Lenin, Stalin and Khruschev. The anti-Russian sentiment of nationalists was let too far to leave a hope for harmony in a society led by political forces in Rada, representing just part of countries population.

The Scots have explained to what extent identity matters -  they have not forgetten it over 400 years, how therefore can one expect Russians to forget theirs over a couple of decades within an independent Ukraine?

The revelation of European integration as the elimination of Russian identity draws new dividing lines over the continent. There is no need to gather in Yalta again to define them: Samuel’s Huntington’s ‘clash of civilizations’ theory is coming true. Violent confrontations over culture are on the rise in Ukraine - the EU will lose to the Kremlin if it continues to deny the nature of the crisis, which is rooted in the suppression of Russian cultural identity within the young Ukrainian state.

Orthodox civilization is rapidly assembling its realm. No point in casting blame.

Anna van Densky

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