Identity in Russian Foreign Policy Towards Ukraine

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the identity transformations that Russia has been going through in the post-Cold War period in connection with internal, external, and historical factors, and the role these transformations played in the changes in this country's foreign policy towards Ukraine. This thesis argues that the changing Russian policies towards Ukraine in the periods after Ukraine's Orange Revolution and the "Euromaidan" events in this country emerged as a reflection of the interconnected identity transformations of these two countries. In this direction, this thesis explains different foreign policy preferences that emerged with identity transformations and changes in perceptions by social constructivism.

Ukraine has historically been an important place for Russia with the Russian perception of the shared strong historical, cultural, religious, and ethnic ties of the two states. Particularly after the Soviet disintegration, Ukraine, like Russia, entered into the period of its own national identity transformations and strove to create and consolidate a common Ukrainian identity. As this thesis aims to put forward, the extent of the influence of transformations of Russian national identity on the Ukrainian national identity, which has still been in the process of creation and consolidation, is crucial to perceive the interconnective nature of identity transformations in the two states with mutual influences of these on their foreign policy choices. This study focuses on the Russian perspective and reactions in the 2004 and 2014 revolution processes in this country in order to show the changing policies of Russia towards this country, within the framework of identity, national self, and perceptions that are still in transformation in two countries.