SCHOLARLY CONFERENCE AND PUBLIC LECTURES ON CONTEMPORARY UKRAINE IN THE U.S.

“Celebrating Mark Beissinger” was the title of the international conference at Princeton University on October 23-24, where Dr. Mykola Riabchuk, the Principal Research Fellow at the Department of Political Culture and Ideologies, took part in the opening session discussing the contribution of the prominent American scholar in the study of Ukrainian-Russian relations and the roots and consequences of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. During his two-week visit to the U.S. Dr. Riabchuk delivered also a cycle of lectures at several other American Universities, specifically at Columbia, Georgetown, Stanford and UCLA (University of California in Los Angeles).

In his presentations, the speaker outlined the scopes and limits of war-time civic mobilization in Ukrainian society and emphasized the need to fend off the Russian venomous propaganda that has found lately its ways even to the upper echelons of American administration. Russian weaponization of culture should be a primary concern of American scholars who often underestimate the role of soft power turned hard during the war.

The Columbia lecture can be watched online at https://www.youtube.com/live/DBdhmQLeQp0