Multiethnic Ukraine: Myth and Reality

At a recent Kennan Institute talk, Serhiy Rymarenko, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, Kyiv, and Fulbright-Kennan Institute Research Scholar, discussed the problems of interethnic relations in Ukraine. Rymarenko contended that many people, both within and outside of Ukraine, describe Ukraine as a highly diverse, multiethnic society—home, according to the 2001 census, to representatives of more than 130 nationalities. However, Rymarenko argued that this image of multiethnic Ukraine is largely a piece of propaganda that serves to obscure the real problems of identity, language, and culture that Ukraine faces.

Rymarenko explained that census data indicates that most of Ukraine's 130 national groups comprise only a tiny fraction of the country's total population. Russians and Ukrainians together account for 95 percent of Ukraine's population, and no other single ethnic group comprises more than 1 percent of the total population. Ethnic Ukrainians make up the clear majority of Ukrainian citizens, accounting for 80-90 percent of residents in all of Ukraine's regions except for Crimea and Donbass. The defining characteristic of Ukraine, in Rymarenko's view, is not its ethnic diversity but it's division into two ethno-linguistic groups: Russophones and Ukrainophones. The Russophone group includes ethnic Russians as well as ethnic Ukrainians and members of other national groups who consider Russian as their native language, while the Ukrainophone group is comprised primarily of ethnic Ukrainians.

In light of this linguistic and cultural divide, Rymarenko argued, one of Ukraine's most fundamental problems is the formation of a general civic identity that would unite all the people of Ukraine. He emphasized that the formation of a Ukrainian civic nation could not, and should not, require that all citizens of Ukraine become ethnic Ukrainians. Rymarenko envisions a Ukrainian civic nation that would serve as an overarching identity—encompassing shared political and social values, a state language, national symbols, and a sense of shared history and common destiny—common to all citizens of Ukraine, regardless of their ethnic identity.

According to Rymarenko, one of the difficulties of creating a civic nation in Ukraine has been the position of the Russian minority, many of whom do not see themselves as members of an ethnic, cultural, or linguistic minority in Ukraine. He argued that the transition from being citizens of the Soviet Union into being citizens of independent Ukraine has been difficult for many Russians, and some have never let go of the idea that Ukraine is a Russian state and hope to maintain political and cultural control of the country.

Rymarenko argued that the government of Ukraine should work to develop both the Ukrainian ethnic community that forms the basis of the Ukrainian civic nation and the communities of ethnic minorities that also comprise that nation. In addition, the state should support Ukrainians abroad. The purpose of these policies, he contended, is to foster the consolidation and integration of all ethnic groups into a single nation with a common civic identity. He hopes that the recent political developments in Ukraine will push the country toward the development of a civic nation.