Ukrainian Nationalism in the Propaganda of the bolshevik’s and modern Ideology of the russian Imperialism

The study compares how “Ukrainian nationalism” was interpreted in the Soviet press and the texts of contemporary ideologues of Russian imperialism. The way in which Ukrainian nationalism and its alleged followers were dehumanized during the trial of the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine in 1930 (using the example of the texts of Andrii Khvylia, Mykola Skrypnyk and publications of the magazine “Bolshevik of Ukraine”) was examined. The image of Ukrainian nationalism presented in public statements that preceded and accompanied the full-scale war from 2022 was analyzed (texts of Timofey Sergeytsev, the address of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin). In the widely circulated texts, the authors accused the “nationalists” of espionage, treason, moral degeneration and the preparation of a coup d’état, which can be defined as hate speech. Communists and contemporary ideologues construct the image of the enemy, using accusations in a mirror that Ukrainian nationalists commit terror or genocide. They depict their victims as aggressors and themselves as victims, justifying violence against Ukrainians as preventive measures. Contemporary Russian ideologues, in particular Timofey Sergeytsev, claim that Ukrainians, hiding behind the rhetoric of independence, profess fascist, racist and Russophobic ideology. Putin and Sergeitsev rejected the Soviet style of hate speech according to which Ukrainian nationalism was bourgeois and therefore criminal. They repeat the pre-Bolshevik imperialist interpretation of the “Ukrainian question”, according to which Ukraine is an integral part of Russia. Therefore Ukrainian nationalism is criminal because it wants to destroy Russian-Ukrainian unity. For Sergeytsev, Ukrainian nationalists are criminals because they pursue a racial policy against Russians, introduced discriminatory laws, committed genocide in the Donbass, commit mass violence and murder of Russians, and established a dictatorship unrestricted by law. The accusations made at the SVU trial were repeated during the Holodomor in the party’s official documents and Joseph Stalin’s correspondence with his supporters, and were directed at Ukrainian peasants and members of the Communist Party (bolshevik) of Ukraine. These accusations can be considered evidence of the desire to eradicate Ukrainian nationalists through artificial hunger and terror, which was facilitated by the cultivation of the image of the enemy in the previous years. The texts of modern Russian ideologues not only construct the image of the enemy, but also outline a consistent program of murders and Russification of Ukrainians and, according to the assessments of jurists and historians, indicate the intention to commit genocide. Keywords: Bourgeois nationalism, Union for the Freedom of Ukraine trial, Andrii Khvylia, hate speech, image of the enemy, de-Nazification, Russophobia, Timofey Sergeytsev.