Russian official historiography frequently extols the "glory" of Russian tzars and portrays Eastern European history as a story of Russian statehood. This historiography is often uncritically replicated abroad.
However, this historiography largely obscures the dark side of Russian imperialism and the systemic violence upon which it has been built.
Let's take a critical look at the major Russian tsars and their violent policies towards Ukraine.
Peter I
Peter I, who ruled in the late 17th and early 18th centuries and established the "Russian empire" in 1721, is regarded as one of the most important Russian leaders by official Russian historiography and is credited with opening Russia's window to Europe.
Peter also culturally and politically appropriated the term Rus', which had previously been associated primarily with the lands of mediaeval Rus' centred in Kyiv, and "rebaptised" Moscovy into the "Russian empire" with the new capital in Saint Petersburg.
Although Peter I did ensure the Russian autocratic model's dominance in Eastern Europe and the suppression of the republican tradition.
The "open window" indicates that Peter I gained grounds of Baltic territories, ensuring Russia's access to the Baltic Sea.
Noteworthy is that temporary Russia's continued blackmailing of sovereign Baltic states. So the aforementioned "open window" actually hid wars with Türkiye, Persia, and Sweden, as well as the theft of the historical term Rus, which renamed the Moscow kingdom the Russian Empire. Aside from this, Peter I committed crimes against Ukrainians.
Destruction of the Hetman's capital, Baturyn
After Hetman (the highest military representative and head of state in Ukraine's Cossack Hetmanate) Ivan Mazepa signed an agreement with Sweden in 1706 and the Swedish-Ukrainian defeat in the Battle of Poltava in 1709, Peter I ordered the destruction and burning of the hetman's capital, Baturyn, and the execution of its inhabitants. According to various estimates, over 14,000 Baturyn residents were killed, including women and children. The bodies of the executed were publicly displayed to intimidate dissenters.
Destruction of the Hetmanate
The hetman's power was limited, and when hetman Ivan Skoropadskyi died in 1722, Peter I refused to allow his successor to be elected. Control over Ukrainian state affairs was transferred to the Collegium of Little Russia (Russian colonial administration in 1722), ending Ukraine's state system of governance. The attempt of Hetman Pavlo Polubotok to defend Ukrainian autonomy resulted in new repressions, with the Hetman and senior officers imprisoned.
Pressure on academic freedom at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
In 1709, Tsar Peter I reduced the number of students at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy from 2000 to 161 and ordered the best scientific and educational forces to relocate from Kyiv to Moscow. These included Innocent Gisel, Ioannikii Haliatowski, and Lazar Baranovych, all of whom played a crucial role in the cultural development of the Russian Empire.
Generations were destroyed
Tens of thousands of Ukrainian Cossacks and peasants were sent to build cities, fortresses, and canals during Peter I's reign, and many died of overwork, disease, and starvation. Ukrainians built the Ladoga Canal and St. Petersburg, which cost several thousand Ukrainian lives.
Just Juel, a Danish diplomat and ambassador, wondered about the tsar:
How could you tolerate him for so long? He was tolerated because he followed the customs of the country.
Catherine II
While Peter I expanded the Russian empire and introduced its violent practices to Europe by conquering Baltic lands, Catherine II demolished republican or semi-republican polities in the Black Sea region, as well as abolishing Polish, Ukrainian, and Crimean Tatar statehood.
Diderot, who called Catherine II 'a woman with the soul of Brutus and the charms of Cleopatra', wrote that 'ideas transferred from Paris to St. Petersburg take on a completely different colour'.
Here are some examples of her crimes.
Destruction of the Hetmanate
Catherine II, realising that the existence of a Cossack republic within the empire posed a threat to the central government, ordered the Zaporozhian Sich's destruction in 1775.
Catherine II demolished the Hetmanate and, at the same time, the General Assembly (a sort of parliament institution) where the last Hetman, Kyrylo Razumovsky, advocated for universal access to education regardless of social status.
She destroyed local self-governance in lands where Magdeburg law (German law ensuring city and town autonomy) was firmly established. The changes aimed to assimilate the Ukrainian nation and elevate it to the imperial level.
During Catherine II's reign, the Ukrainian financial system, which had been created by Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, was completely destroyed.
In 1768, Catherine ordered the arrest of all members of the Koliyivshchyna, the uprising on the Right Bank of Ukraine against the serfdom, and religious and national oppression of the Polish administration, led by Ivan Honta and Maksym Zalizniak, fearing that the uprising would spread to the Left Bank of Ukraine.
Deportation and discrimination against people
In 1778, by order of Catherine II, 40,000 Armenians, Greeks, and Bulgarians were deported from the Russian-occupied Crimea to the Northern Azov region, which is now the front line in Russia's war against Ukraine.
Another terrible crime of Catherine II was the introduction of serfdom on Ukrainian lands. In 1791, she established the 'Jewish pale of settlement', which restricted Jewish residence in the Russian Empire to the Right Bank, as well as the provinces of Poltava and Kherson.
People's deportation, anti-Semitism, cultural destruction, and suppression of popular will were all hallmarks of Catherine II's reign.
Nicholas I
While Europe was influenced by the ideas of the French Revolution and national liberation, the Russian Empire's autocratic rule of Nicholas I persecuted any manifestations of liberalism.
The Ukrainian movement in Podillia and Bessarabia against Moscow serfdom was suppressed between 1830 and 1835. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was liquidated in Russia-occupied Right Bank Ukraine as early as 1839. Hundreds of Christians and priests were killed, and 593 were sent to Siberia. They were replaced with Russian priests.
In such circumstances, an underground Ukrainian political organisation known as the Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood was founded in Kyiv in early 1846, named after the enlighteners Cyril and Methodius. Its main goal was the fight against serfdom and the national liberation of the Ukrainian people. In the spring of 1847, tsarist authorities arrested and exiled 12 permanent Brotherhood members.
Alexander II & Alexander III
The persecution of Ukrainian identity continued under the successors of the Russian throne. Pyotr Valuev, the Russian Empire's Minister of Internal Affairs, issued a circular in 1863 banning Ukrainian printing.
In 1876, Alexander II issued a secret Ems Decree prohibiting the import of Ukrainian theatre and books. Alexander III issued a decree in 1888 prohibiting the use of Ukrainian in official institutions and the baptism of children with Ukrainian names. Later, in 1895, he outlawed the publication of Ukrainian books for children.
The history of the rule of the Russian emperors is a testament to the ruthless suppression of Ukrainian national identity, autonomy, and democratic aspirations.
Each ruler contributed to the systematic destruction of Ukrainian sovereignty by eradicating Cossack institutions, imposing serfdom, destroying Ukrainian cultural centres, and banning the use of Ukrainian.
Despite numerous repressions, the Ukrainian people persisted in their struggle for rights and identity, as evidenced by numerous uprisings, political organisations, and cultural movements. These events have left a deep mark on the minds of Ukrainians and remain relevant in the context of Ukraine's perpetual battle for freedom and independence.
This article was produced in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute, Ukraine's major cultural and public diplomacy institution.
