Ukraine: regional specifics against Maidan

The main problem of the Ukrainian state is the lack of the united Ukrainian nation. Ukraine isn’t the monolithic state because its different regions have different views on own history and different heroics.

Ukraine represents an example of to what consequences can lead the attempts to go a non-standard way of a nation building when not the nation creates the state that would be natural, but the state tries to create the nation under itself.

Having gained the independence from hands of the USSR, in many respects, it is casual (in the beginning even the United States opposed the announcement as Kiev independence, being afraid of weakening of control over the nuclear weapon which was in the territory of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic), Kiev appeared in a difficult situation: already there was the Ukrainian state, but there was no united and integral Ukrainian nation in political and cultural sense of the word.

Its artificial designing from top to down, without regional specifics and ethnic variety began. The Western Ukraine was taken for a cultural and political standard, whose population makes only 15% of total number of the population of the country, and this standard was broadcast on other regions.

At regional level the opposition always was present at system of the Ukrainian power on the line of Lviv — Simferopol. The Crimea always resisted to Galicia, acting as an alternative political and cultural pole. Presence of the Crimea as a part of Ukraine didn’t allow Galicia to monopolize completely the right for history and individual definition of a political and civilization vector of development of Ukraine.

The Crimea and Galicia are two bowls of scales holding Ukraine in political and ideological balance. The Galician ideology of the Ukrainian nationalism couldn’t seize all country because tested counter resistance from the Crimea, and, to a lesser extent, Donets Basin.

The Crimea and Donets Basin aren’t the part of Ukraine any more. Donetsk and Simferopol ideologically always gravitated to each other, and following of Donets Basin to an example of the Crimea is the natural phenomenon.

But there are nuances to which it is necessary to pay attention.

Without the Crimea and Donets Basin, to which ideological influence Kiev will make the maximum difficulties now, Ukraine remains with the only pole of political and cultural influence. These are the western regions and, Galicia, in particular, as epicenter of nationalist ideology. Galicia and the Crimea represented two multidirectional poles of political passionarity. Now as a part of Ukraine there is only one source of passionarity.

The central regions of Ukraine differ passivity. Even now, against occurring events the central Ukraine is concerned not by territorial integrity of the country, but its economy more. The central Ukraine is the territory of political sub-passionarity which will follow that who will be able to drag it on the party of barricades.

In the absence of the Crimean and Donets Basin pole of an attraction the central Ukraine will easily fall under influence of passional Galicia. It occurs already now. Against the political slogans about inviolability of territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state the mass will shake towards the one who assumed burden of the guardian of this integrity and the Western Ukraine is that guardian with its ideology of the Ukrainian nationalism which considers forever as Ukrainian that at least once visited borders of the Ukrainian state, including the Crimea and Donets Basin.

Galicia couldn’t digest ideologically all Ukraine with Donets Basin and the Crimea in addition. But without the Crimea and Donets Basin it will be easier for it to make it, including, thanks to administrative support from Kiev which of mother of the cities of the Russians turned into their stepmother for a long time.

Strengthening of national Galician influences will be promoted by that fact that with leaving of the Crimea the structure of Ukraine the main internal tourist stream moves not to the Crimea, but to the Western Ukraine. In Ukraine there were two tourist Meccas — the Crimean beaches and Carpathians Mountains. Crimean beaches are not the Ukrainian. There were Carpathians Mountains, together with Lviv, Ivano-Frankovsk, etc. the excursion routes passing in places of crimes of OUN-UPA where these crimes are presented as the feat.

This year the touristic stream to the western regions of Ukraine increased several times. The western Ukraine turned into the only attractive place for tourists. Regular visits of the Western Ukraine by the Ukrainian tourists (for the lack of other tourist objects) will be brought with itself, as a side effect, by implantation of big mass of the Ukrainian citizens in the West Ukrainian nationalist reality, their familiarizing with vicious Bandera heritage which in the Western Ukraine is included in the list of objects for visit by visitors.

Here it is necessary to remember the philosophical term «spatialization». It is a spatial embodiment of a social order and material culture of the people in architectural, tourist, geographical and other objects. They have impact on formation of national identity of the population, on perception of occurring political processes to them, become the part of cognitive geography of the people.

Without the Crimea and Donets Basin the cognitive perception by the Ukrainian population of idea of the Ukrainian statehood and that, in general, it is necessary to consider as Ukraine, will be strengthened by nationalist accents. From the sign places interfaced to a certain ideological impulse (it is not important whether this impulse is of positive or negative property) in borders of Ukraine there will be only Galicia and the Carpathians. Other Ukraine will inevitably fall under influence of this impulse supported with developed forms of the spatialization of space. Not so geographical space, as many the political and ideological.

Ukraine in such situation is expected by radicalization of society and increase of Russophobic moods. For this purpose there were all prerequisites, and it won’t be possible to re-structure the Ukrainian political space, to give it other forms of spatialization quickly. But, as not in interests of Russia to have near the related by birth, but the unfriendly state on ideology, it is necessary to strengthen the information opposition with ideology of the Ukrainian nationalism which, I will remind, it is closed with Nazism, and it isn’t similar to other European national-isms.

Lack of Russia in the Ukrainian information field led to growth of an area of influence of the Ukrainian nationalism that, actually, isn’t equitable also to interests of Ukraine which authorities do everything that the people of it didn’t understand.