Graphic by Norie Wright By Sergiy Sydorenko Edited by Grant Ewing and Courtney Schneider - Trouble Behind Frontlines: How Russia's Occupation is ...
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Trouble Behind Frontlines: How Russia’s Occupation is Re-Molding
Ukraine’s Socio-Cultural Landscape
Graphic by Norie Wright
By Sergiy Sydorenko
Edited by Grant Ewing and Courtney Schneider
|1
Trouble Behind Frontlines: How Russia’s Occupation is Re-Molding
Ukraine’s Socio-Cultural Landscape
Introduction
The Russo-Ukrainian War has prompted many diverse discussions among western analysts.
Much attention has been given to the global economic fallout caused by the war, as well as
western military assistance to Ukraine. However, few are paying attention to what takes
place behind no man’s land, in the territories currently occupied by Russian forces covering
most or all of the following Ukrainian oblasts: Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk,
and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Figure 1). Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, Moscow
has steadily implemented Russification, the policy of assimilating non-Russians into Russian
culture.¹ Anti-Ukrainian human rights abuses and millions of forced out-migrants are re-
molding Ukraine’s socio-cultural landscape. Should Ukraine liberate its occupied territory,
Kyiv will face the challenge of undoing Moscow’s administrative and societal Russification.
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Trouble Behind Frontlines: How Russia’s Occupation is Re-Molding
Ukraine’s Socio-Cultural Landscape
Figure 1 – Ukrainian oblasts under partial or full Russian occupation³⁴ (Crimea was annexed
in 2014, while Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk were annexed in September
2022)
History of Russification in Ukraine
While most of modern-day Ukraine has been intermittently under Russian control since the
mid-seventeenth century, Russification intensified in the 1840s¹ when Moscow became
concerned about growing Ukrainian identity. Notable examples of tsarist Russification are
the Valuev Circular and the Ems Decree²–laws forbidding the publication of Ukrainian
books, performing Ukrainian theater, or lecturing in Ukrainian. Following the communist
revolution in 1917, there was a brief reversal of this approach. In the 1920s, the Soviets
implemented korenizatsiia (“indigenization”), which promoted the use of native Ukrainian
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Trouble Behind Frontlines: How Russia’s Occupation is Re-Molding
Ukraine’s Socio-Cultural Landscape
languages and the practice of ethnic customs.¹ The policy aimed to make the new
communist system more attractive to non-Russians, and Ukrainians – being the largest
minority – were quick to benefit from it both politically and culturally.¹
By the 1930s, however, Stalin, fearing a rise of nationalism, reversed the indigenization
policy and began purging anyone associated with it.¹ As a result, tens of thousands of
Ukrainian politicians, artists, and intelligentsia – politically-influential intellectuals – were
imprisoned and killed.¹ Simultaneously, five to seven million people died³ in rural Ukraine in
the Holodomor – a famine caused by Stalin’s collectivization policies¹ that aimed to
jumpstart the USSR’s industrialization. The Soviets also forced mass migrations:⁴ hundreds
of thousands of Ukrainians were deported to Siberia and Central Asia, and the barren
countryside was then repopulated with ethnic Russians. Stalin’s draconian purges continued
until he died in 1953, after which the persecution of minorities declined.¹ However,
Russification continued quietly through the promotion and increased use of the Russian
language until the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s.⁵
Legacy of Russification and Contemporary Ukraine
Modern-day Ukraine reflects the complex history of Russification. About one-third of the
population speaks Russian and is predominantly located in Ukraine’s aforementioned
southeastern oblasts: Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, and the Autonomous
Republic of Crimea (Figure 2). Similarly, the country’s ethnic Russians – about 17 percent of
the population⁶ – reside in these same southeastern oblasts.⁷ The long period of
Russification has also led to political rifts and contributed to the region’s voting habits.
Since Ukrainian independence, Moscow has relied on its vast media to help sway its
Russian-leaning population in Ukraine; while the media had little effect on pro-Western
Ukrainians, it helped secure pro-Russian votes of ethnic Russians and undecided voters.⁸
For instance, ethnic Russians, or those predominantly using the Russian language, were less
likely to vote for pro-Western policies.⁹ Furthermore, unlike other areas of Ukraine, Russian-
speaking areas are mostly concerned with the status of the Russian language¹⁰ and gaining
regional autonomy.
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Trouble Behind Frontlines: How Russia’s Occupation is Re-Molding
Ukraine’s Socio-Cultural Landscape
Figure 2 – Language map of Ukraine³² (lighter areas represent smaller numbers of
Ukrainian speakers)
Russia’s 2022 Invasion and Renewal of Russification
As of 2023, large parts of Ukrainian territory are under Russian occupation and facing a
new wave of Russification. Although Moscow annexed the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia
and Kherson oblasts in September 2022, they were subjected to Russification far earlier in
the war. From the first days of occupation, the Kremlin sent its media outlets to occupied
territories to promote Russian troops as saviors, justifying their war in Ukraine as liberation
from Nazis.¹¹ The occupiers also raised billboards depicting famous Russian military figures,
spreading pro-Russian sentiment, and promoting the narrative of Russo-Ukrainian
fraternity.¹²
In May 2022, Russia began targeting the occupied regions’ administrative and educational
|5Trouble Behind Frontlines: How Russia’s Occupation is Re-Molding
Ukraine’s Socio-Cultural Landscape
ties to Kyiv: The Kremlin introduced the ruble as the new currency in Kherson, and Russian
banks were scheduled to open in the city in 2023.¹³ Ukrainian books and educational
materials were destroyed, and teachers throughout the occupied territories were forced to
cooperate under threat of violence and death.¹⁴ In September 2022, the Kremlin introduced
a new, pro-Russian curriculum that marginalizes Ukrainian identity and undermines
Ukraine’s statehood.¹⁵ Further, many local teachers have fled or have been detained, and
Moscow has been incentivizing Russian teachers to move to occupied Ukrainian
territories.¹⁶
There is also a spiritual aspect to the occupation, namely the Russian Orthodox Church
(ROC). Over the past decade, the ROC has become intertwined with the Russian
government, and like the Kremlin, it has a large stake in Ukraine:¹⁷ The country has over
12,000 ROC parishes,¹⁸ which translates into vast soft power and considerable income for
the ROC. After Moscow’s invasion, the ROC ordered a consolidation of all parishes in
occupied areas.¹⁹ Churches in Crimea were also transferred to the direct control of the
Moscow Patriarchate.²⁰
The Russification of occupied Ukraine is only half the story: The Kremlin’s Russification
policy has been enhanced by population displacement resulting from the invasion. When the
war started in 2014, over half a million Ukrainians were internally displaced in Ukraine and
hundreds of thousands left the country.²¹ An even greater exodus occurred following
Russia’s 2022 invasion: As of January 2023, there are eight million Ukrainian refugees²² and
nearly six million internally displaced persons.²³ While the majority of these refugees are in
western and central European countries, 2.85 million are in Russia.²⁴ It is difficult to say
how many fled to Russia voluntarily, and how many were deported through filtration
camps²⁵ where physical abuse, detention, and torture are frequently reported.²⁶ Russian
filtration camp authorities also reportedly confiscate Ukrainian citizenship documents,
replacing them with Russian passports.²⁷
In July 2022, the U.S. State Department reported that 260,000 Ukrainian children were
“forcibly deported”²⁷ to Russia. Since the invasion, there have been numerous additional
cases of forced family separation, in which Ukrainian children have been taken from their
parents and placed for adoption in Russia.²⁸ Ukrainians that stayed in occupied regions,
however, have not fared much better. At the onset of the invasion, tens of thousands of
civilians were forcibly mobilized in the separatist-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk People’s
Republics.²⁹ The process was repeated during Russia’s partial mobilization in September
2022,²⁹ this time forcing mobilization across all occupied Ukrainian territories. The result
has been a double-edged sword:³⁰ those opposed to Russia’s invasion have fled, been
deported, or have gone into hiding to avoid persecution, and the few remaining civilians
|6Trouble Behind Frontlines: How Russia’s Occupation is Re-Molding
Ukraine’s Socio-Cultural Landscape
support Russia’s war. This mirrors the outcomes following Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea
and the Donbas, but on a larger scale. As a result, the Kremlin has already won one victory:
entrenching staunch Russian supporters in occupied territories, people who despise all
things Ukraine.
Conclusion
As of February 2023, Russia occupies roughly 17 percent of Ukrainian territory³¹ (Figure 3).
The Kremlin’s occupation has begun a renewed Russification of the region. These policies –
aimed at assimilating Ukrainians in occupied lands and migrating Russians into areas
previously inhabited by Ukrainians – have been enhanced by the migration crisis caused by
the war. While the outcome of the war is not certain, one thing is: the behind-the-scenes
Russification is undermining Ukrainian identity and statehood day by day. Should Ukraine
liberate its lost territory, it will not only have to deal with war-torn cities, but also with the
economic, administrative, and socio-cultural impacts of Russia’s occupation.
Figure 3 – Russian Invasion of Ukraine³⁹ (as of February 26, 2023)
|7Trouble Behind Frontlines: How Russia’s Occupation is Re-Molding
Ukraine’s Socio-Cultural Landscape
Endnotes
1. Theodore R Weeks, “Russification / Sovietization” European History Online (3
December 2010):
http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/models-and-stereotypes/Russification-sovietization
2. Andrii Danylenko, review of Brothers or Enemies: The Ukrainian National Movement
and Russia from the 1840s to the 1870s, by Johannes Remy, University of Toronto
Press, The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol.95, No.3, July 2017,
https://doi.org/10.5699/slaveasteurorev2.95.3.0568
3. Frank Sysyn, “Thirty Years of Research on the Holodomor: A Balance Sheet”, East /
West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies, Vol.2, No.1, 23 January 2015,
https://doi.org/10.21226/T26P4M
4. Oleh Wolowyna, Serhii Plokhy, Nataliia Levchuk, Omelian Rudnytskyi, Alla Kovbasiuk,
and Pavlo Shevchuk, “Regional variations of 1932–34 famine losses in Ukraine”,
Canadian Studies in Population, Vol. 43, No.3-4 (2016): 175-202.
https://shevchenko.org/research-publications/publications/regional-variations-of-1932-
34-famine-losses-in-ukraine/
5. Maria Sukhova, “Russification of Soft Power: Reconceptualization of soft power in
contemporary Russia” (master’s thesis, Linköping University, 2015).
https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A823106&dswid=5909
6. State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, “National Composition of Population”, All
Ukrainian Population Census 2001.
http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/general/nationality/
7. Valery Dzutsati, “Geographies of hybrid war: rebellion and foreign intervention in
Ukraine”, Small Wars & Insurgencies, Vol.32, No.3, (10 December 2020): 441-468.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09592318.2020.1849897
8. Peisakhin, Leonid, and Arturas Rozenas. “Electoral Effects of Biased Media: Russian
Television in Ukraine”. American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 62, No. 3, (July
2018): pp. 535–550. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/ajps.12355
9. Constant, Amelie F., Martin Kahanec, and Klaus F. Zimmerman. “The Russian-
Ukrainian Political Divide”. Eastern European Economics, Vol.49, No.6,
(November–December 2011): 97–109.
http://www.klausfzimmermann.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2011-111_TheRussianU
krainianPoliticalDivide.pdf
10. Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska Richard Sakwa (editors), Ukraine and Russia: People,
Politics, Propaganda and Perspectives, E-International Relations (March 2015):
|8Trouble Behind Frontlines: How Russia’s Occupation is Re-Molding
Ukraine’s Socio-Cultural Landscape
https://www.e-ir.info/publication/ukraine-and-russia-people-politics-propaganda-and-pe
rspectives/
11. Jack Goodman, Maria Korenyuk, Lucy Swinnen and Andrey Zakharov, “War in Ukraine:
The making of a new Russian propaganda machine”, BBC News, 29 May 2022:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61441192
12. Bernat Armangue, “AP PHOTOS: Propaganda billboards embodied Russian
occupation”, AP News, 2 December 2022:
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-9f671d979709c0ea2a63bddda00443
64/
13. Adam Taylor and Sammy Westfall, “Shift to ruble in Kherson could signal
consolidation of Russian control in occupied region”, The Washington Post, 1 May
2022:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/01/kherson-russia-ruble-internet-refer
endum/
14. Zhanna Bezpiatchuk & Sofia Bettiza, “Ukraine war: Tortured for refusing to teach in
Russian”, BBC News, 1 October 2022:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63037713
15. Kevin Liffey and Jonathan Oatis, “Putin pushes Kremlin-approved history as priority for
Russian schools”, Reuters, 1 September 2022:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-pushes-kremlin-approved-history-priority-
russian-schools-2022-09-01/
16. Julia Mueller, “Russia sending hundreds of teachers to Ukraine to offer ‘corrected’
education: report”, The Hill, 18 July 2022:
https://thehill.com/policy/international/3563982-russia-sending-hundreds-of-teachers-t
o-ukraine-to-offer-corrected-education-report/
17. Brandon A. Davis, “Holy War: How Putin Weaponized The Russian Orthodox Church”
(thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, 2019): http://hdl.handle.net/10945/63444
18. Antony Pakanych (Metropolitan Antony), “Report of the Chancellor of the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church for 2022”, Ukrainian Orthodox Church, 24 December 2022:
https://news.church.ua/2022/12/24/zvit-keruyuchogo-spravami-ukrajinskoji-pravoslavn
oji-cerkvi-za-2022-rik/
19. “ROC’s special commission to deal with parishes in the annexed territories”, Ukrainian
Orthodox Church News, 1 October 2022:
https://spzh.news/en/news/90940-sudyboj-prihodov-na-anneksirovannyh-territorijah-zaj
metsya-speckomissija-rpc
20. “ROC Synod: Crimean eparchies of UOC received directly into Russian Church”,
Ukrainian Orthodox Church, 7 June 2022:
https://spzh.news/en/news/88888-sinod-rpc-perevel-krymskije-jeparkhii-upc-v-podchine
|9Trouble Behind Frontlines: How Russia’s Occupation is Re-Molding
Ukraine’s Socio-Cultural Landscape
nije-patriarkhu
21. Divers, “Ukraine conflict uproots hundreds of thousands”, United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, 5 December 2014:
https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/latest/2014/12/548190aa9/ukraine-conflict-uproots-
hundreds-thousands.html
22. Operational Data Portal, “Ukraine Refugee Situation”, United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, 31 January 2023:
https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine
23. Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), “Ukraine”, International Organization of
Migration, January 2023: https://dtm.iom.int/ukraine
24. Omer Karasapan, “Ukrainian refugees: Challenges in a welcoming Europe”, The
Brookings Institution, 14 October 2022:
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2022/10/14/ukrainian-refugees-ch
allenges-in-a-welcoming-
europe/#:~:text=listed%207.6%20million%20Ukrainian%20refugees,evidence%20of%
20executions%20and%20torture.
25. “Ukraine: Russia’s unlawful transfer of civilians a war crime and likely a crime against
humanity – new report”, Amnesty International, 10 November 2022:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/11/ukraine-russias-unlawful-transfer-of-c
ivilians-a-war-crime-and-likely-a-crime-against-humanity-new-report/
26. Meetings Coverage and Press Releases, “Reports of Russian Federation Forces Putting
Ukrainian Civilians in ‘Filtration’ Camps Must Be Investigated, Senior Officials Tell
Security Council”, United Nations Security Council, 9126th Meeting, 7 September
2022: https://press.un.org/en/2022/sc15023.doc.htm
27. Anthony J. Blinken, “Russia’s “Filtration” Operations, Forced Disappearances, and
Mass Deportations of Ukrainian Citizens ”, press statement, U.S. Department of State,
13 July 2022:
https://www.state.gov/russias-filtration-operations-forced-disappearances-and-mass-de
portations-of-ukrainian-
citizens/#:~:text=Estimates%20from%20a%20variety%20of,regions%20in%20the%20
Far%20East
28. Stanislav Krasilnikov, “Life here is going in a crappy direction. Tens of thousands of
residents have been taken to war with Ukraine in the LNR and DNR. Without them,
businesses in the home front do not work, and the security services persecute even the
wives of conscripts”, Meduza, 6 July 2022:
https://meduza.io/feature/2022/07/06/zhizn-zdes-katitsya-v-hrenovuyu-storonu
29. Marc Santora, “Russia Begins to Mobilize Ukrainians to Fight Against Their Own
Country”, The New York Times, 25 September 2022:
| 10Trouble Behind Frontlines: How Russia’s Occupation is Re-Molding
Ukraine’s Socio-Cultural Landscape
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/25/world/europe/russia-ukraine-forces-referendum.h
tml
30. Mansur Mirovalev, “What’s behind pro-Russian attitudes in eastern Ukraine?”,
AlJAzeera, 21 April 2022:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/21/whats-behind-pro-russian-attitudes-in-easte
rn-ukraine
31. Pierre Breteau, “War in Ukraine: Russia now controls only 16% of Ukrainian territory”,
Le Monde, 6 January 2023:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decodeurs/article/2023/01/06/war-in-ukraine-russia-now
-controls-only-16-of-ukrainian-territory_6010578_8.html
32. “Language map of Ukraine”, Translators without Borders (n.d.):
https://translatorswithoutborders.org/languages-of-ukraine-interactive-en
33. Barros, George, Kateryna Stepanenko, Thomas Bergeron, Noel Mikkelsen, and Daniel
Mealie. “Interactive Map: Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine”. Institute for the Study of War,
27 February 2023:
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/36a7f6a6f5a9448496de641cf64bd375
34. AlJazeera, “Mapping the occupied Ukraine regions Russia is formally annexing”,
AlJazeera, 21 September 2022:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/21/mapping-the-ukraine-regions-voting-on-join
ing-russia
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