Enemies, partners, neighbors

Abstract

The Kremlin’s statements on the alleged territorial claims of Poland and Romania against Ukraine, statements issued in the aftermath of Russia’s large-scale invasion of the neighbouring country, have prompted us to investigate the evolution of Romanian-Ukrainian relations between 1918 and 1922. Based on Ukrainian, Romanian and Western sources, archive documents and articles published in the press of the time, we provide an overview of the most important aspects in the common history of the two peoples during the above-mentioned period in Bessarabia and Bukovina, as well as of the diplomatic negotiations and territorial disputes between Bucharest and Kiev. Although in the early years of its existence, the Ukrainian People’s Republic expressed interest in these two regions, during the Directorate – in the hope of an anti-Bolshevik alliance with Romania – it adopted a pragmatic attitude and even offered to acknowledge the border on the Dniester (which meant recognition of the union of Bessarabia with Romania). Nothing was said, however, about the future of Bukovina. The Paris Conference officially assigned the former Habsburg province to Romania, which triggered resentment among the Ukrainian population towards Romania throughout the interwar period. The Treaty on Good Neighbourliness and Cooperation, signed in 1997, is currently in force between the two neighbouring countries.