How Similarities Can Highlight Differences: A Comparison of Social Trust Formation between Ukrainians and Russians

According to Putin, the long existence of Ukraine as a part of Russia ensured “the common faith and cultural traditions” and “linguistic affinity,” nullifying the possibility that Ukraine could have developed its own cultural or national identity. This study tests the assumption of cultural similarities between Ukrainians and Russians by using social trust as the main framework of analysis. My point of departure is the idea that the two countries can be considered culturally similar if they have the same level of social trust and the same set of factors that determine this trust. Drawing upon this, my analysis aims to examine the extent to which the causal pattern of social trust formation in Ukraine resembles that in Russia.