ABSTRACT
This paper studies the sources of the Russia–Ukraine conflict. The prerequisites for this conflict began when, in Ukraine and Russia, the liberal tendencies that emerged after the collapse of the USSR gave way to conservatism. The differences between the current state ideologies of the two countries are demonstrated through a comparative analysis of 16 Russian and Ukrainian school history and literature textbooks. This enables us to see that the Ukrainian ideological project focuses on building a political community on the basis of national cultural traditions (nation-building project), whereas mainstream Russian political discourse focuses on building strong state institutions (state-building project). Additionally, the Russian ideology considers the Ukrainian and Russian peoples to be parts of a single social and cultural community, whereas the Ukrainian nation-building ideology regards Russia as the hostile Other. Thus, the Russia–Ukraine conflict will continue, with various degrees of intensity, in many spheres.
