The Destructive role of Russia in Ukrainian-German relations (1920s)

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to reveal the destructive role of Bolshevik Russia in Ukrainian-German relations during the 1920s. The research methodology organically stems from the need to demonstrate, through a specific historical example, the imperial policies of Russia towards Ukraine. The most effective approach in this context appears to be the combination of imagological, extrapolation, comparative-historical, historical-genetic methods, case studies, system analysis, deconstruction, and generalization. The scientific novelty of the research. The study demonstrates the destructive imperial role of Russia through the example of Ukrainian-German relations, clarifies the limitations imposed by the RSFSR in the 1920s on the activities of Ukrainian representations abroad, and highlights the nullification of the independent foreign policy of the Ukrainian SSR. Additionally, it develops the idea of the far-reaching consequences of Russia's occupation of Ukraine. The analyzed documents and materials allow for the conclusion that Russia systematically destroyed Ukraine's international subjectivity, imposing through military, diplomatic, political, and economic means, as well as propaganda and agitation, the ideas and practices of an inseparable union with Russia. Russia sought by any means to achieve recognition of Soviet power by other states, particularly Germany, to neutralize the Ukrainian national movement abroad, and to assume the leading role in the conclusion of international treaties. The destructive role of Russian Bolsheviks in Ukrainian-German relations during the 1920s was based on the puppet government of the Ukrainian SSR. By signing the Treaty of Rapallo with Germany and subsequently extending its provisions to Ukraine, Russia gained the ability to freely exploit Ukraine's resources while emerging from international isolation and positioning itself as the sole representative of the pseudo-union entity on the international stage. The foreign affairs department of the Ukrainian SSR, subordinated to Moscow, served as a key instrument for dismantling the diplomatic mission of the Ukrainian People's Republic in the German State.