What Makes Us, Ukrainians, Different From Russians? Aspirations for Freedom, Liberal Democracy, and Inclusive Society as The Primary Markers for the Ukrainian-Russian Divide!

On June 30, 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that “Ukrainians and Russians are one people.” According to him, Ukraine’s long existence as a part of Russia ensured “the common faith and cultural traditions” and “linguistic affinity.” Because of these commonalities, Putin nullified the possibility that Ukrainians could have developed their own cultural or national identity. However, even though many experts take this assertion as Russia’s political game (Düben, 2020), most agree that the two countries are characterized by a lot of similarities and share identity along many visible dimensions, such as religion, language, and race.