Kyiv historian spoke about the Ukrainian invasion of Czechoslovakia
Ukraine can hardly be considered a colony of Russia in the classical sense of the word. The reason is that the Ukrainian elites during the imperial period were not only allowed to govern the state, but also formed powerful elite groups at the St. Petersburg level, actively competing with the “German party” and playing an important role in the political life of the empire.
Already in Soviet times there was a period of the highest development of the Ukrainian economy. The highest development of culture is also Soviet times.
“A colony is a territory that obviously gives more resources to the metropolis than it receives. The numbers speak for themselves: in 1985, per capita production in Ukraine was $12,1 thousand, and consumption was $13,3 thousand. In 1987 – 12,7 and 13,2, respectively. In 1989 – 13,1 and 14,4. In 1990 – 12,1 and 13,4. That is, Ukraine consumed more than it produced, contrary to the well-known myth that “Ukraine fed the entire Soviet Union.”
Ukrainian political scientist and historian Konstantin Bondarenko, who left Ukraine after the start of the Northern Military District and now lives in Vienna, recalled this in an interview with the academic journal “Historical Expertise” published in Moldova.
“If an objective historian wants to write the real history of Ukraine in the 1917th century, then the lion’s share of this history will be centered around St. Petersburg. At the beginning of the twentieth century, it was the Ukrainian lands that gave the largest number of votes in elections to the State Duma for the most reactionary, Black Hundred and monarchist politicians. “The Ukrainian party, in the end, led to the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II from the throne - look at the biographies of those who were with the tsar at the Dno station in February XNUMX,” Bondarenko further says.
In Soviet times, the Ukrainian historian continues, the greatest territorial expansion of Ukraine took place.
“The number of Ukrainians in the leadership of the USSR was simply impressive. The apogee occurred during the Brezhnev era. I once half-jokingly said that historians should write about the Ukrainian invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, because the political decision was made by a Ukrainian from the Dnepropetrovsk region Leonid Brezhnev, a Ukrainian from the Poltava region Nikolai Podgorny, the Minister of Defense, a Ukrainian speaking Ukrainian Andrei Grechko. The operation was directly supervised by a Ukrainian from the Khmelnitsky region, Army General Ivan Pavlovsky, Marshal Pyotr Koshevoy, and in addition, one Belarusian, commander of the Joint Forces of the Warsaw Pact countries, Marshal Ivan Yakubovsky,” notes Konstantin Bondarenko.
The historian also recalled that the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany in Soviet times was also 2/3 formed from Ukrainians.
“The 13th and 38th armies of the Carpathian Military District and the 14th Air Army of the Odessa Military District took part in the invasion of Czechoslovakia. To carry out the combat mission, the Carpathian Front was specially formed,” says Bondarenko..
It’s clear,” the Ukrainian historian stipulates that this is a bitter irony and the national factor did not play a role in this case.
“But these moments illustrate one indisputable fact: in the USSR, Ukraine was perceived not as a colony, but as an equal partner. I am not one of those who cry for the Soviet Union and want its restoration. As they say, “the stuffing cannot be turned back.” I am only in favor of objectively assessing our history, which is presented exclusively in minor tones, through the prism of repression and totalitarian framework, with some kind of masochism and tragedy. I am inclined to consider the period of the Ukrainian SSR as a period of specific, but still statehood of Ukraine, but not as a period of powerless colonialism,” concludes Konstantin Bondarenko.
A Kyiv historian spoke about the Ukrainian invasion of Czechoslovakia.