Questions of legal assessment of the entry and situation of Ukrainian lands within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Abstract

The article considers the problem of formation and development of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the legal assessment of the situation of the Ukrainian lands conquered by Lithuanians. In the context of this problem, the authors analyze in detail the main stages of the Lithuanian state during the reign of Mindaugas, the creation of a centralized system of power and the establishment of the ruling Gediminas dynasty, active expansionist foreign policy during the reign of Prince Olgerd. It is clear that the authors are particularly interested in the process of conquest of Ukrainian lands by Lithuanians through the so-called “quiet expansion” and its main consequences that occurred in the socio-political life of the Ukrainian and Lithuanian peoples. In this context, the authors thoroughly analyze the process of assimilation of Lithuanians by Ukrainians, who were in the state-building and cultural relations much higher than their conquerors. Lithuanians borrow from the Ukrainians the Orthodox faith, the Old Russian language, “Russian Truth”, becomes the main source of law before the adoption of the Lithuanian Statutes. As a result of assimilation processes, Lithuanians who lived on Ukrainian lands forgot who they were – Lithuanians or Ukrainians. Along with the positive phenomena, the article analyzes the negative innovations introduced in Ukraine at this time: the removal from power in Kiev of the princes of the Rurik dynasty and the arrival of representatives of the Lithuanian Gedeminovich dynasty and the creation, unlike Kievan Rus, a strong centralized Lithuanian state. The article analyzes the process of changing the legal status of the Ukrainian lands-principalities, which became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, at the initial stage of its formation and development (broad autonomy with elements of federalism) and during the period of enhanced centralization of grand ducal power and their transformation into governorates of the Lithuanian state in the second half of the XV century. According to the authors of the article, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, despite its different names (Lithuanian-Russian, Russian-Lithuanian states, etc.), was not a Ukrainian state.