ORGANIZATION OF UKRAINIAN NATIONALISTS AS AN INSTRUMENT OF EXTERNAL INFLUENCE

The article examines the activities of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (hereinafter referred to as the OUN) as an instrument of external influence of states seeking to use the Ukrainian national question as a means of destructive influence against the USSR, and later, the Russian Federation. The OUN was one of the largest Ukrainian radical nationalist organizations. The foreign policy of the OUN contained a significant anti-Russian vector, which was reflected in the activities of the organization and cooperation with Russia’s geopolitical opponents. Popularization of the ideas of radical nationalism in Ukraine, as well as the activities of nationalist organizations, acted as threats to Russia’s security. The derivatives of this subsequently became the events of the Ukrainian crisis and the armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Understanding the activities of Ukrainian radical nationalist organizations, as well as searching for ways to counteract the threats to Russia’s security emanating from them, is of theoretical and practical importance. The purpose of the study is to characterize the role of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and related associations as an instrument for implementing the interests of Western states in containing the USSR and Russia. The methodology of the study is based on the neorealist paradigm. The work analyzes and synthesizes information about the activities of the OUN. The method of content analysis was used when examining sources containing information about the role of the OUN as an instrument of containing Russia. The historical-genetic method was used in a retrospective examination of the mechanisms of interaction between the OUN and the states that supported the organization. Throughout its existence, the OUN actively cooperated with states in a state of geopolitical confrontation with Russia. Ukrainian nationalist associations — in particular, the OUN and related organizations — became instruments of US policy in the context of geopolitical rivalry with Russia in the post-Soviet countries..