by Viviana Mazza
Michael Ignatiev, professor of history in Vienna: «The tsar uses religion with imperial logic. His message is: We are one people.”
«It is certainly a ruse and a provocation. When it comes to the question of whether or not Ukraine is ready to honor the ceasefire, Putin will say, “Look, I told you, these people deserve to be defeated,” explains Michael Ignatiev, a history professor at An of the Central European University of Vienna. “But there is another aspect, the cultural interpretation. Putin says: “We are one people because we have one faith, our religion started in Kyiv and all orthodox believers should live in one state.” “There are believers on both sides,” Putin says in his ceasefire declaration: This seemingly innocent clue is a central aspect of his narrative. The reality is that while there are believers on both sides, the Ukrainian church is separate from the Moscow Orthodox Church, and the latter is a shameless apologist for Putin’s war crimes. Ukrainians are not fooled, and neither is the world.
How does Putin use religion?
«In his narrative, Orthodox Christian Russia began in Kyiv, when St. Vladimir was converted; in the 8th and 9th centuries there was “a belief for a people” that Ukraine does not exist and is a Soviet-era invention; Lenin gave Ukraine a state and that wiped out “one people, one faith” for a thousand years. Kirill, the head of the Orthodox Church in Russia, really believes in this: he believes that the holy sites in Kyiv are the holy sites of his faith and should be in a state called Russia, not Ukraine. However, Orthodox Ukrainians want their church in Ukraine to be governed precisely because they do not want a church defending the destruction of their country.”
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Who is Putin addressing?
“He addresses the Russians in particular: he recalls that it is an autocracy united with the Church, and this strengthens his legitimacy as the authentic spokesman of the country. But it also caters to Russian-speaking Ukrainians, a minority of whom are Orthodox and recognize the Patriarch of Moscow. Try to heat up divisions. There are many games – and some difficulties for the Ukrainians. No doubt they are angry because they were bombed at Christmas and New Year and now Putin wants a truce. But their other problem is that the situation at the front is exhausting. I don’t know what they will do, but my opinion is that despite the falsity of Putin’s narrative, it might be in their strategic and military interest to keep a 36-hour truce to give their boys a break.
The United States sees no sign of Putin’s real willingness to make peace in this ceasefire. They say they will support Kyiv for as long as necessary, but avoid saying “victory” until victory. Because?
“Americans must avoid pitfalls like telling people who are risking their lives to negotiate with those who are bombing and killing them. It is up to Ukrainians to decide what they want and how far they are willing to go. For me the question isn’t whether they should aim for victory or not, that will be decided on the battlefield. Nobody knows. Everyone is impressed by what the Ukrainians have achieved so far, but nobody – not even Ukrainians – knows how long it is possible to endure living without light and heating and losing sons and daughters at the front. The real question is how long they can hold out because the Russians will not collapse.”
Why won’t they collapse?
“As incompetent and criminal as they are, they are 150 million people against a country of 50 million. The Russians can accept huge punitive measures, not because ordinary people want it, but because the survival of the regime is at stake. The regime must fight to a position where it can claim to have won or it will fall. It won’t end soon. The Russians have just suffered heavy troop casualties bombing the Himars – that may be another reason why they want a truce, move troops, reorganize them. It’s a nightmare for Russians and a nightmare for Ukrainians.”
January 6, 2023 (change January 6, 2023 | 07:52)
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