In Ukraine, future defenders of the fatherland are trained with inspiration from heroes of the past such as Hetman Ivan Mazepa.
Photo: Konstantin Ilyanok
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Ukraine and Russia Clash at Poltava
// The two countries have taken opposing historical courses
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin arrived in Kiev yesterday on a assigned to him by Russian President Vladimir Putin. He tried to reach an agreement with the Ukrainians on the joint observation of the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava in the summer of 2009. However, under an order by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko issued last year, Ukraine will not observe the Russian victory over the Swedish, but the 300th anniversary of the Ukrainian-Swedish alliance against Russia. Moreover, Swedish authorities intend to erect monuments to Swedish King Karl XII and Hetman Mazepa in Poltava next to the monument to Russian Czar Peter I.
Victory Day
Karasin's visit to Kiev was not covered by the Ukrainian press yesterday. Only the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry provided information on his visit, in a dry announcement posted on its website saying that Karasin would meet with Ukrainian Acting First Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Kostenko. Nothing was said about the nature of their talks. As a matter of fact, the Russian diplomat had come on an important mission. Deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry press and information department Andrey Krivtsov told Kommersant yesterday that Karasin discussed preparations for the joint observation by Russia and Ukraine of the 300th anniversary of the victory of the Russian army led by Peter I over Swedish King Karl XII in the Battle of Poltava. “We insist that it is a common date and we should celebrate it together. In principle, it is all taking place as party of the wishes expressed earlier by Russian President Vladimir Putin,” Krivtsov said.
The “wishes” mentioned by Krivtsov were expressed by the Russian president in February of this year at a meeting with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who had come to Moscow to discuss Russian natural gas deliveries to Ukraine. After the negotiations, Putin stated that, besides gas issues, they had discussed “the topic of an approach to the publicizing of the history common to our states and peoples.” “We understand how great a degree of mutual understanding and respect our fraternal peoples have for each other. And I am confident that the joint celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Nikolay Gogol will be equally meaningful for us,” the Russian president said. “In addition, we have agreed to think about how to mark the 1200th anniversary of the baptism of Rus this year and, next year, the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava.”
At the Russian Foreign Ministry, they received Putin's words as instructions for action. Yesterday in the second department of the countries of the CIS (which is responsible for foreign policy in relation to Ukraine), Kommersant was told that a rough plan has already been made for the celebration of the victory at Poltava. The plan proposes the organization of a scientific conference in Ukraine on the Russian victory over Sweden, visiting performers, dramatic readings and a children's art competition. There would also be exhibitions, roundtable discussions and several scholarly publications on the battle.
The Russian Foreign Ministry would coordinate the implementation of the plan in cooperation with the Russian Ministries of Culture, Defense, Education and Science, and Regional Development, as well as the Federal Archives Agency and a number of other patriotically-inclined public organizations, such as Virtue and Humanism and We Are the Heirs of Victory. A Russian Foreign Ministry source acknowledged yesterday that conciliation of the grandiose plans was Karasin's task.
The Shadow of Victory
Karasin's mission s not an easy one. Ukrainian authorities have their own ideas about the historical significance of the Battle of Poltava, and they are radically different from those of the Russians. In October of last year, Yushchenko signed special order No. 955 “On the Celebration of the 300th Anniversary of the Events Connected with the Military and Political Activity of Hetman of Ukraine Mazepa and the Establishment of the Ukrainian-Swedish Union.” The order instructs the Ukrainian cabinet of ministers to form an organizing committee to prepare observations of that event (which in Russian historiography is called Mazepa's treason). The order also involves such steps as the organization of a joint Ukrainian-Swedish scientific commission for “the study and objective publicizing of the history of Central-Eastern Europe and Ukrainian-Swedish relations from the second half of the 8th century through the beginning of the 21st century in the context of European integrative processes.” In addition, the Ukrainian leader instructed that the renaming of streets in Kiev and other cities in honor of Hetman Mazepa be studied and monuments to Ivan Mazepa be erected in Poltava and Kiev. He also proposed erecting a monument to Karl XII in Ukraine and instructed the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to work on having a monument to Mazepa erected in Sweden.
Part of the Ukrainian presidents instructions have been fulfilled. Last year, January Uprising St. in Kiev, on which the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is located, was renamed Mazepa St. This year, a competition was declared in Poltava Region for the best design of monuments to Ivan Mazepa and King Karl XII of Sweden. There are plans to raise them on the Poltava Battlefield state national historical site, where a monument to Peter I already stands. The results of the competition will be announced on April 25. The main condition on the competition is that the new monuments be stylistically and compositionally comparable to the monument to Peter I and form thematic unity.
In his concern to restore Ivan Mazepa's reputation, the Ukrainian president even made an effort to remove the anathema that Peter I placed on him for conspiring with the Swedish king, which is in effect still. Yushchenko took up the issue at a meeting with Patriarch of All Russia Alexiy II during his February visit to Moscow. That attempt was unsuccessful.
Thus, Ukraine has no intention of commemorating the victory of Russian forces over the Swedes, but rather plans to celebrate the formation of a union with Sweden, recalling Ukraine's long European orientation and a heroic episode in the Ukrainian people's centuries-long struggle for independence from Russia.
One Victory
Russia is not pleased with Kiev's alternative view of Poltava. Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin said so yesterday in plain terms as he visited Poltava as part of preparations for the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the victory over Sweden. He stated that, if their preparations are fitting, third Russian President Dmitry Medvedev might visit, thus making it known that Moscow is not pleased with the preparations so far. The ambassador was especially indignant at the idea of monuments to Mazepa and Karl Xii at Poltava. “Well, imagine us putting up a statue of Hitler in Stalingrad now,” he said.
Karasin was subtler. In a conversation with Kommersant, he made it clear that there was no need to give up on Putin's idea of joint celebrations yet. “We were at Poltava, we met with city and regional leaders. We stated that we are seriously interested in participating in that extraordinarily important event for our two countries and Europe,” he recounted.
Karasin called the announcement of a possible visit by Medvedev premature. It appears that that will depend on or not Moscow and Kiev can work out a united position on what should be celebrated at Poltava and how in the next year and whether there should be monuments to Hetman Mazepa and Karl XII there. “I an convinced that, if we approach it responsibly and deliberately, the celebration will once again show that we have a common history, even if it is a complex history. Mazepa himself and his forces did not participate in the battle directly,” Karasin told Kommersant. “We should not build out priorities for the perception of history on disputed issues. In any case, the Battle of Poltava is an important event in European history. We are proud of the event. Ukraine has every reason to be proud of it too.”
Vladimir Solovyev, Sergey Golovnev, Kiev; Nadezhda Druzhinina, Poltava
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 26, 2008
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