During the war, in March 2022, Russian aggressor twice fired on Holocaust memorials in Ukraine: Babyn Yar in Kyiv (March 1) and Drobitsky Yar in Kharkiv (March 26). Modern putin’s russia, by destroying memorials created by Ukraine over the years of independence, continues Stalin’s policy of destroying a memory of civilian victims of World War II.
In this regard, Anatoliy Podolsky who is a leading researcher of the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies and a Candidate of Historical Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, expressed his position in an interview with Radio Liberty: “This is another crime of the putin regime against the civilian population,” he said.
“Yesterday I felt the succession from Hitler through Stalin to Putin. I wrote that Hitler killed the Jews of Ukraine and Stalin destroyed the memory of them. During the Soviet era, it was forbidden to come and honor the memory of those who were killed. And only when Ukraine became sovereign we got the opportunity to honor the victims. The “Stalinist” assassination of memory continued yesterday. And who should the world call Nazis today? Apparently, not Ukrainians, but those who agree with putin regime, which should have been demolished a long time ago, “Podolsky said.
President of Ukraine on the shelling of the Memorials
On March 24, 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a resolution “On the denunciation of the Agreements in the field of education and science with the Russian Federation.”
The relevant decision terminates the action:
- Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Russian Federation on Cooperation in the Field of Culture, Science and Education, consulted at Moscow on July 26, 1995;
- Agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Russian Federation on Mutual Recognition and Equivalence of Documents on Education and Academic Titles, consulted in Moscow on May 26, 2000;
- Agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Russian Federation on cooperation in the field of attestation of scientific and scientific-pedagogical personnel of the highest qualification, consulted in Kharkiv on June 21, 2002.
The Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine adopted a resolution from March 17, 2022 № 79 “On the international activities of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine under conditions of martial law.”
Expressing deep gratitude to international organizations, academies of sciences and foreign research centers, individual scientists for the support of Ukraine, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and its institutions and staff, the Presidium resolution notes that a broad international campaign to support Ukrainian scientists by providing them with employment opportunities by profession in other countries is associated with a certain threat of a new wave of scientific emigration, in particular the strengthening of the departure of talented scientific youth abroad. Therefore, while paying tribute to the collegial solidarity and support of our scientists from foreign scientific circles, while staying deeply grateful to the world scientific community for their support, we consider the expansion of the activity of our scientists abroad as a temporary phenomenon caused by martial law and we hope for a restoration of the normal scientific process.
A number of important decisions were made by the resolution of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. In particular,
– on preparation, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, of appeals to international scientific organizations regarding the exclusion from their membership (or suspension of membership) of scientific organizations of the Russian Federation and termination of any cooperation with Russian scientific organizations;
– on the termination of any forms of cooperation between the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Russian scientific organizations and Russian scientists and those international scientific organizations that are in fact under Russian control;
– on the revision of approaches to the format of participation of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and its institutions in those international scientific organizations that have not condemned Russian military aggression, or forms of assessment of the situation from which Russian narratives are reproduced.
Resolution of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Scientific Publishing Council of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine have formed a position on publishing activities under martial law.
According to the official position of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, set out in an open letter of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine from 07.03.2022, collective appeal of members of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine – foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences to the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the order of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine from 07.03.2022 № 145 “On the termination of cooperation with scientists of the Russian Federation in the field of publishing” all scientific institutions and scientists of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine must immediately:
1) to withdraw from the editorial boards of all domestic scientific periodicals of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine scientists affiliated with the Russian Federation, as well as to stop their involvement in reviewing materials submitted to domestic publications;
2) all domestic scientists to withdraw from the editorial boards of scientific periodicals of the Russian Federation, as well as to stop reviewing materials submitted to these publications;
3) completely stop publishing articles by authors affiliated with the Russian Federation in scientific periodicals of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (this also applies to materials submitted before February 24, 2022);
4) completely stop co-authorship and review of any types of scientific publications affiliated with the Russian Federation (monographs, collections of scientific papers, encyclopedic and reference publications, reports and abstracts of conferences, etc.);
5) not to transfer any materials to any aggregators of scientific information of the Russian Federation, in particular to the Russian index of scientific citations (RINC).
Similar restrictions apply to cooperation with scientists and institutions affiliated with the Republic of Belarus.
On January 31, Dr. Mykola Riabchuk, a Senior Research Fellow of the Ethnopolitics Department, presented his views on current developments in Ukraine at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Paris, under the title “Making sense of the ‘Ukraine crisis’: origins, interpretations, and (possible) consequences”. His pre presentation was discussed by Françoise Thom (Sorbonne University) and Philippe de Lara (Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University), and moderated by the scientific director of the Institute Dr. Simon Luck.
In his presentation, the speaker argued that the Russo-Ukrainian conflict is essentially irresolvable for two fundamental reasons. First, Russia is stuck in the imperial vision of its history, geography, and identity that leaves Ukraine neither any space in the past nor any legitimacy at present. And, secondly, Moscow is strongly committed to a revisionist policy aimed at carving up Europe for allegedly “legitimate” spheres of influence.
Mykola Riabchuk
All this is naturally perceived in Ukraine as an existential threat to both its identity and sovereignty, and pushes the country further away from the aggressive, authoritarian, and unpredictable neighbor.
The speaker contended also, that all the protracted, two decades-long, attempts to engage Russia in a meaningful dialogue and cooperation have failed, and that it is the high time for the West to recognize the rogue nature of the Kremlin regime and to focus rather on its containment than engagement. Russian elite, unlike Iranian or North Korean, is deeply integrated into the West at a level of property ownership and leisure practices, and therefore is very vulnerable to the real – coherent and comprehensive – personal sanctions applied with due determination.
The video-record of the conversation
On November 29-30, the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) organized an international conference “Ukraine in the Context of Thirty Years of Identity-Building in Post-Communist Europe” as a follow-up to the recently published volume “Meandering in Transition. Thirty Years of Reforms and Identity in Post-Communist Europe” (ed. by Ostap Kushnir and Oleksandr Pankieiev) that contains 17 essays by a dozen international authors. At the opening of the conference, Dr. Mykola Riabchuk, a Senior Research Fellow of the Ethnopolitics department of the Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, presented a paper “Shifting the wall further east: What remains of ‘Eastern Europe’ thirty years later?” where he examined divergent trajectories of postcommunist states and attempted to outline the key factors that determined the process. He argued that not only structural factors, primarily the level of westernization in the pre-communist past, played a substantial role nowadays, but also specific decisions and policies of domestic and, sometimes, international actors contributed to the success of failure of postcommunist transformations.
The streamline of the conference can be viewed at the CIUS web-page:
In his book V. Soldatenko, a chief researcher at the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, collected short materials about the most prominent representatives of the national elite, from whose positions and actions in the crucial historical period (1917-1920) largely dependent the vector of development of the Ukrainian people, their full-fledged revival, and the choice of prospects for social progress.
The book was recommended for publication by the Academic Council of the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and published within the project “Scientific Book”. For scientists, teachers, students, anyone interested in Ukrainian history.
On November 24–25, 2021 the IX All-Ukrainian Scientific Conference “Problems of Political Psychology and Its Role in Becoming a Citizen of the Ukrainian State” took place.Conference participants were greeted by the Vice President of the NAS of Ukraine, Corresponding Member of the NAS of Ukraine, Academician of the NAPS of Ukraine, Director of the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine O. Rafalsky.
During the conference
Reports during the plenary section sessions were devoted to current issues of modernity and the development of political psychology as a scientific field.The reports discussed in particular the dynamics of ideas and public attitude to national symbols (M. Slyusarevsky), features of the psychology of understanding politics (T. Traverse), training of political psychologists in higher education (T. Andrushchenko), etc.
Within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Conference, several round tables were held to discuss the problems of influencing the public consciousness via modern media and political myth.Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor Yu. Shaihorodskyi attended and spoke at the conference.
In his book V. Soldatenko, a chief researcher at the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, collected short materials about the most prominent representatives of the national elite, from whose positions and actions in the crucial historical period (1917-1920) largely dependent the vector of development of the Ukrainian people, their full-fledged revival, and the choice of prospects for social progress.
The book was recommended for publication by the Academic Council of the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and published within the project “Scientific Book”. For scientists, teachers, students, anyone interested in Ukrainian history.
Mykola Riabchuk, a Senior Research Fellow of the Ethnopolitical Department Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the NAS of Ukraine, took part in the 7th World Congress of Polish Studies in Wroclaw on October 20-23. At its opening session, he delivered a paper on „Rozliczenie się z „kresowoscią”, albo Czy istnieje polska literatura postkolonialna?” (“Farewell to ‘kresementalism’, or Is there any Polish postcolonial literature?”). In his talk, Dr. Riabchuk employed a classical Edward Said’s definition of Orientalism to outline the Polish writing on “kresy” – the idealized eastern borderlands of the historical Rzecz Pospolita. “Kresentymentalism”, in his view, is a way of dominance, restructuring and imaginary restoration of the lost power in the eastern lands by means of remembering and reification in the Polish collective memory.
Postcolonial approach, therefore, can be effectively applied in both the scholarly exploration of Polish-Ukrainian relations and the artistic works insofar as the deconstruction of ethnic myths and stereotypes serves both the cognition and psychotherapy.
September 29, 2021 at the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. A delegation of employees of archival institutions of the Republic of Kazakhstan met with the Deputy Director of the Institute OM Maiboroda and the head of the Center for Historical Political Science YI Shapoval.
The participants of the meeting exchanged information on the directions of scientific research in Ukraine and Kazakhstan, discussed the prospects of cooperation between scientists of both countries.
In the photo from left to right: Counselor of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Ukraine SO Konovalov, Deputy Director of the National Archives of the Republic of Kazakhstan SN Mushkenova, Deputy Director of IPiND. IF Kuras NAS of Ukraine OM Maiboroda, historian and writer DJ Jandildin, head of the Center for Historical Political Science IPiND them. IF Kuras NAS of Ukraine YI Shapoval, Deputy Director of the Central State Archives of the Republic of Kazakhstan MG Zhilisbayev.
On September 23-26, the 14th Ukrainian-Polish meetings “Free with free, equal with equal” took place in Yaremche (until the 30th anniversary of the recognition of Ukraine’s independence by the Republic of Poland). This regular scientific forum has been bringing together well-known Ukrainian and Polish experts, diplomats and scientists to exchange views for 14 years in a row. This year about 50 participants joined its work. The meetings were organized by Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Vasyl Stefanyk Institute of Political and Ethnonational Studies. IF Kuras of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Freedom and Democracy Foundation (Republic of Poland), the University of Warsaw and the weekly Courier of Galicia.
The current Ukrainian-Polish meetings consisted of five discussion panels that lasted for two consecutive days. The event began with a solemn greeting to the participants by, in particular, the Minister, the Government Commissioner for Polonia and Poles in the East Jan Dziedzicak, the director of the Institute for Political and Ethno-National Studies. IF Kuras, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Vice President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Corresponding Member National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Oleh Rafalsky, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Poland to Ukraine Bartosz Cichotski, First Deputy Chairman of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Council Vasyl Hladiy, Consul General of Ukraine in Krakow Vyacheslav Voynarovsky, Chairman of the Freedom and Democracy Foundation Lilia Lubonevich, Editor-in-Chief of the Week “Galician Courier” by Wojciech Jankowski, director of the Institute of Polish Culture in Kyiv Robert Chyzhevsky. The conference was traditionally opened by Igor Tsependa, Rector of the Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, and Jan Malicki, Director of the Studies of Eastern European Studies at the University of Warsaw.
During the event
On the first day of the meetings, interesting discussions took place with the participation of four former ambassadors of Ukraine to Poland and Poland to Ukraine Markiyan Malsky, Oleksandr Motsyk, Jan Klyuchkovsky and Marek Zyulkowski on the topic “Poland as a chance for Ukraine – Ukraine as a chance for Poland. Diplomat’s experience from a 30-year perspective. “
No less interesting was the section “Two lungs of civilization: Western and Eastern Christianity in the opinion of John Paul II” (to the twentieth anniversary of the pilgrimage to Ukraine) with the participation of authoritative experts from Ukraine and Poland. The keynote speakers at the Institute of Political and Ethno-National Studies named after IF Kuras of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine – Head of the Department of Ethnopolitical Science Viktor Voynalovych and Chief Researcher Viktor Yelensky.
In addition, within the framework of the XIV Ukrainian-Polish meetings, the problems of the role of the mass media in covering the course of relations between Ukraine and Poland were discussed.
The final of the forum was the thematic panel “Economic dimension of Ukrainian-Polish cooperation: achievements, difficulties and untapped potential.”
On the eve of the conference days, some participants climbed the Carpathian Mount Pip Ivan, where they visited the International Research Center “Observatory” of Warsaw and Prykarpattia Universities.
At the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Oleg Rafalsky, Director of the Institute, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, met with Elenora Ducci, an Italian researcher and graduate student at the University of Naples. The subject of her scientific interest is, in particular, the study of the political situation in Ukraine during its denuclearization – the process of nuclear disarmament. During the meeting, the issue of providing organizational and methodological support to the Italian researcher regarding the scientific sources of her research was discussed.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Director of the Institute, Corresponding Member of the NAS of Ukraine Oleksandr Maiboroda.
During a meeting at the
Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the NAS of UkraineSenior Research Fellow of the Ethnopolitics Department, Dr. Mykola Riabchuk, took part in the international conference “Europe with a view to the future”, organized in Gdansk by the European Solidarity Center. He delivered a speech at the panel discussion on the “Democracy in retreat? In defense of civil liberties in Europe” where he argued that virtually nobody in today’s world, and even less so in Europe, dares to question democracy at the normative level. It is not democracy as a system and principle of governance that fell under threat nowadays, but the liberal democracy, i.e., democracy where the dominance of majority is restricted and regulated by liberal principles that recognize human rights as the absolute, undeniable value and protect them not only from the arbitrariness of autocrats but also from the dictatorship of the formally “democratic” mob.
During the conference
It is the liberal principles that are endangered today in Europe, so that democracy, void of them, becomes formal, feckless, and caricatural. And autocrats get it right when they target primarily liberalism, while paying lip-service to democracy. They understand perfectly well that democracy without liberalism is no threat to them, on the contrary – it might be conveniently used as a tool of “democratic” legitimization of their authoritarian rule.
According to the general edition of the Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Chief Researcher of the Department of Theory and History of Political Science of the Institute of Political and Ethnonational Studies. IF Kuras NAS of Ukraine Yuriy Shapoval published a book about Julian Bachynsky (1870-1940) – public and political figure, publicist, author of the famous book “Ukraine irredenta” (1895) which justified the need to create an independent Ukrainian state. The publication includes unique and previously inaccessible documents from the archives of the communist secret service, revealing the fate of Julian Bachynsky.
On August 31, 2021, Viktor Yelenskyi, Chief Research Scientist at the Institute’s Ethno-Political Science Department, was received by the Head of the Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services of the United States Armed Forces, Archbishop of the US Military Services HE Timothy Paul Andrew Broglio.
The Archbishop, who is in charge of the spiritual care for Catholics in the US military (a quarter of all country’s military personnel) in all branches of the US Armed Forces and in all corners of the globe, explained his vision for the fundamentals of the Church’s presence in the US military organization and the challenges that military chaplains face. In turn, Viktor Yelenskyi, who participated actively in the development and implementation of the Ukraine’s Governmental Decree “On Service of a Military Clergy (chaplains service) in the Armed Forces, the National Guard and the State Border Service” highlighted the main elements of the military chaplaincy formation in Ukraine and recount the developments that had been achieved in the field since 2014.
Special attention during the conversation was paid to the Viktor Yelenskyi’s research project currently under the implementation within the framework of the Fulbright Visiting Scholar’s Program at the Catholic University of America, which deals with the experience of the United States and other Western democracies in building an effective and comprehensive strategy to combat the misuse of religion which has to be in the same time in accordance with internationally recognized principles of human rights and freedom of religion and beliefs.
In the photo: Timothy Paul Andrew Brolio and Victor Yelensky
A book dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s state independence has been published at the Institute, in which scholars of the Institution analyze the most important issues of the country’s political development during this time. The problems connected with the choice of the general strategic course of the state, with the transformation of the socio-political system, with the ethno-political and spiritual evolution of the Ukrainian society are considered. (more…)
The collective monograph “National minorities of Ukraine in the political processes of the XX-XXI centuries: state and problems of research” was published.
On July 15, 2021, the 26th World Congress of Political Sciences concluded its work. The congress was held online. The theme of the Congress: “New nationalisms in the open world.”
During the World Congress of Political Science
More than 1000 scientific events of the Congress (panel discussions, inaugural lectures, round tables, etc.) were attended by more than 1,000 participants – scientists from 70 countries.
The participants’ attention was focused on the problems of new varieties of nationalism, which has become widespread in the modern world. Scientists see a certain paradox in this, because its (nationalism) development takes place in a period of openness, globalization and increasing interdependence. In addition, it was noted during the Congress, the new nationalism is supported in both poor and rich countries. This phenomenon requires political scientists to answer a number of questions, including: “What is the new nationalism, who are the new nationalist leaders and what are the similarities and differences between the new nationalisms and their predecessors?”; “How can new nationalisms be interpreted and classified?”; “How does the new nationalism correlate with populism and authoritarianism?”; finally, “What are the potential effects of the new nationalism on political systems, global governance, international relations, political behavior, etc.?” In general, most participants in the discussions noted the fact that the new nationalism is becoming one of the main challenges of the XXI century, given its sophistication, versatility, aggression, and therefore less predictable.
Meetings of the governing bodies of the International Association of Political Sciences (IPSA) took place during the Congress.
Oleg Rafalsky, President of the Association of Political Sciences of Ukraine, has been elected to the organization’s highest representative body, the IPSA Council. As a member of the IPSA Council, O. Rafalsky participated in the election of the President and the IPSA Executive Committee. Professor Diana Pinderhouse from the USA has been elected the new president of the organization.
On June 22, 2021, the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center hosted a round table “Ukraine as a civilizational subject of history and modernity” during which a presentation of the national report of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine took place.
Topics for discussion were:
- The country as a subject of civilization. Civilizational subjectivity of Ukraine and our statehood;
- State projects in the light of historical traditions of Ukrainian subjectivity. Formation of Ukrainian statehood;
- Modern Ukraine: perception by citizens and international partners;
- Ukraine as a subject of the modern world: strategies and forecasts. Ways of development and prospects of civilizational subjectivity of Ukraine.
During a round table at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center
The following participants spoke in the discussion:
- Pyrozhkov Serhiy Ivanovych, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Vice President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine;
- Khamitov Nazip Vilenovych, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Leading Researcher of H. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine;
- Sossa Rostyslav Ivanovych, Doctor of Geographical Sciences, Leading Researcher of the Department of Historical Regional Studies of the Institute of History of Ukraine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine;
- Yas Oleksiy Vasyliovych, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Leading Researcher of the Department of Ukrainian Historiography of the Institute of History of Ukraine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine;
- Yakubova Larysa Dmytrivna, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Head of the Department of History of Ukraine of the 1920s and 1930s. Institute of History of Ukraine, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine;
- Dembitsky Serhiy Serhiyovych, Doctor of Sociological Sciences, Senior Researcher of the Department of Methodology and Methods of Sociology of the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine;
- Mayboroda Oleksandr Mykytovych, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Deputy Director of Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine;
- Ashot Dadikoevich Avanesyan, Chairman of the Council of National Communities of Ukraine, President of the National Congress of Armenians of Ukraine
- The moderator of the round table was the People’s Deputy of Ukraine Oleh Dunda (“Servant of the People” party).
- The event was attended by employees of Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies.of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine – Deputy Director of the Institute, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor Yu. Shaihorodskyi and Leading Research Scientist, Doctor of Political Sciences, Associate Professor O. Kondratenko.
Round table broadcast
Scientific journal «POLITICAL STUDIES»
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