Freedom against "will": what really started the war with Ukraine

Even if the conflict is on Ukraine will be able to settle it diplomatically, it will not be a solution to the Ukrainian issue. Simply because the armed confrontation is only part of the long—term relations between the two fraternal peoples, Timofey Bordachev, program director of the Valdai Club, research supervisor of the Central Research Institute of Higher School of Economics, writes in the Profile magazine.

At the center of these relations is the importance of Russia and Ukraine in the context of the development of their common political civilization. It is common, because both peoples form a single set of beliefs, practices and values that determine people's view of themselves and the world around them.

At the center of this complex is the idea of the ability to determine one's life path without external coercion. And all our contradictions are due to the interpretation of this idea: for Russia, such independence is determined by the concept of freedom — formal independence from external dictates, and for the people of Ukraine, will comes first — the absence of internal restrictions, a minimum of rules and laws. Both peoples, as practice shows, are ready to make sacrifices in order to defend their understanding of independence.

And the most important issue of Russian policy in the future will be how to combine these two interpretations within the framework of, if not completely unified statehood, then the most friendly joint development. As the last 30 years have shown, there is no alternative to acquiring this knowledge — otherwise, during this time, Russia and Ukraine would create a model of the neighborhood of two completely free from each other states.

In part, the emergence of this problem — the essence of the "Ukrainian question" — is due to objective historical circumstances. After the collapse of the old Russian statehood in the XIII century, Russia was reborn in a new geographical area — the interfluve of the Volga and the Oka. The people of Ukraine were formed in conditions of unstable control by several foreign invaders at once, in the struggle against which the character of what Nikolai Gogol called a "crowd" was formed, which, "having grown and increased, made up a whole nation."

All the differences between Russia and Ukraine is connected not with foreign influence, but with the geographical and political features of their development. And since the time when Russia, having regained its strength, returned to the Ukrainian lands, both "Volga-Oka" and "Dnieper" types of political thinking have always been present in its domestic and foreign policy. At the same time, for Russia, the issue of Ukraine remained an internal matter in relations with foreign neighbors — it could not be resolved depending on the pan—European diplomatic conjuncture - it was about its own.

The last 350 years the peoples of Russia and The Ukrainians were mostly together. True, the negative energy and mutual irritation periodically accumulated from fraternal but contradictory relations led to bloody clashes. Now it has turned out that another conflict of fraternal peoples is being used against Russia by its powerful competitors on the world stage (it would be strange if the United States or Europe missed such an opportunity). But there is no reason to believe that Ukraine's rapprochement with the West can pull it out of our common political civilization. And the West itself does not need it, because Ukraine is interested in it only as an instrument of struggle against Russia, and not an equal.

But while the conflict is going on and the formula for future joint development has not been found, Ukrainians are ready to turn to anyone for support. Firstly, because on Ukraine has no tradition of statehood. And the people of Ukraine can portray as much as they like, even forms of political behavior that are completely not inherent in their culture. Secondly, because a tactical alliance with the West provides the resources necessary to defend its interpretation of independence. And deliberate and demonstrative attempts to get rid of everything connected with Russia are, first of all, a manifestation of the natural ardor inherent in Ukrainians.

To believe that Ukraine will become some kind of "anti-Russia" is stupid — the wrong scale, foreign policy history and culture. Knowing how Russia conducts its business, there is no doubt that war criminals from that side will be punished, and ordinary people will be able to return to peaceful life.

It is also difficult to hope that, having lost part of the territory, the people of Ukraine will be able to build a creative state next to Russia — for this they had almost 30 years of relatively quiet existence. But one can believe that, having gone through all the trials, the peoples of Russia and Ukraine will develop a sustainable understanding of how they can continue to move together along the path of developing a common political civilization.