Origin of Ukrainians as Viewed by Scientists, Imperial Politicians, and Their Adherents in Ukraine

Abstract

The article touches upon the key problem of the history of Eastern Europe – the historical heritage of princely Kyiv and the state of Rus. It also analyzes the arguments of supporters of the early medieval version of the Ukrainian people’s origin and those of their opponents, who currently sympathize with the historical myth of the late Stalinism period – Old Rus nation being “the cradle of three fraternal peoples”. Late medieval concept of origins of Ukrainians, Russians, and Belarusians is a Soviet version of a very old imperial historical myth. It disagrees with the norms of modern ethnology and was formed after World War II as a typical Soviet ideology structure. In our time, the majority of scientists adhere to the concept of Ukrainians’ genesis in the Early Middle Ages (5th–7th centuries), with M. Hrushevsky as one of its originators. Modern ethnology views peoples as ethnocultural organisms, who are born, pass their life cycle, and disintegrate, mostly in the process of assimilation with other peoples. Age of ethnos is determined by the continuity of its development on its ethnic lands. Continuity of ethnocultural development on the lands of England, France, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Serbia, Poland, and Ukraine from Early Middle Ages to our time suggests the beginning of national history of the mentioned peoples from the 5th–7th centuries. Having passed the tribal phase of development in Early Middle Ages (5th–9th c.), the mentioned nations of Europe created their first states. At the same time, the state of Kyivan Rus aroused, which consolidated Slavs of Southern Rus in the single ethnos of Ruthenians (ancient Ukrainians). Ukrainians, as the majority of peoples inhabiting Central Europe (English, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Germans, Poles, Czechs, Serbians, Croats, and others), originated in Early Middle Ages (5th–7th c.) and continuously developed on their ethnic lands to our time.