Our re-blog of the publication by the Russian Foreign Ministry on the anniversary of the reunification of the Left Bank of the Dnieper with Russia, followed by the complete re-blog of an article by Vladimir Putin ”On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians“.

A small linguistic/phonetic aside. The name “Khmelnitsky” is pronounced “Hmelnitsky” (with “h” sounding as in the word “home”); and “Hetmanate” is pronounced “Getmanate” (with “g” sounding as in the word “get”).

On April 6, 1654, Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia Alexey I Romanov, “The sole ruler of all Russia Great and Little”, granted his royal charter to Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host Bogdan Khmelnitsky. The document secured the reunification of the Left Bank of the Dnieper with Russia.

In the late XVI and the early XVII century, all groups of the Orthodox population in the lands of Ancient Rus, controlled by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, were subject to an increased religious and ethnic pressure from the Polish-Lithuanian gentry, which sought to fully assimilate local residents through a policy of Polonisation and Latinisation.

After the Union of Brest was adopted in 1596, a majority of Orthodox priests became subordinate to the Pope. Those who remained faithful to Orthodoxy became outcasts and were deprived of hierarchical leadership, since Metropolitan of Kiev Mikhail Rogoza had also joined the Greek Catholics.

Amid forced Catholicisation, the loss of noble titles and lands, and ongoing persecution, the local Orthodox population began searching for ways to escape oppression. All attempts to come to an agreement with the Polish king failed as the Polish gentry firmly refused to acknowledge the autonomy of the Orthodox Cossacks and nobility.

In 1648, a major liberation movement was sparked, led by the renowned military and political leader Bogdan Khmelnitsky. The Cossacks rebelled against the Polish oppressors to defend their faith, identity, and the right to self-determination.

Recognising the need for a stronger alliance, Khmelnitsky made several appeals to Tsar Alexey I of Russia, requesting protection and support, and asking him to take the lands of the Hetmanate under “his royal hand”. In 1653, Hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky approached Tsar Alexey I, asking him to accept “all of Little Russia (Malorossiya) and the entire Zaporozhian Host into his eternal possession, allegiance, and protection” Later that year, in May, the Zemsky Sobor convened in Moscow, where an unequivocal decision was adopted in favour of the integration of Malorossiya into the Russian state.

On January 18, 1654, Pereyaslav Rada made a historic decision — the Zaporozhian Cossacks declared their allegiance to the Russian Tsar. On April 6, Tsar Alexey I of Russia signed the royal charter, which mentioned the Russian monarch’s title “the sole ruler of all Russia Great and Little” for the first time, emphasising the historical continuity of a unified state.

The Pereyaslav Agreement reflected a natural historical process of returning the ancient Russian lands to the unified Russian state and reuniting parts of a single nation, divided by civil strife and the Golden Horde yoke.

On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians

– Article by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, July 12, 2021

During the recent Direct Line, when I was asked about Russian-Ukrainian relations, I said that Russians and Ukrainians were one people – a single whole. These words were not driven by some short-term considerations or prompted by the current political context. It is what I have said on numerous occasions and what I firmly believe. I therefore feel it necessary to explain my position in detail and share my assessments of today’s situation.
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