Joining Europe

By Walter Kish

Since Ukraine became independent over a decade and half ago, with the exception of a few reactionary Communists, neo-Soviets and rabid Russophiles, most of her political leaders have sought to push the country culturally, economically and politically into an expanded Europe.  This is particularly true in Western Ukraine, which has had a long history under Austro-Hungarian or Polish rule, and has always had substantial contact, trade and cultural exchange with the rest of Europe. 

Eastern Ukraine however, has been effectively separated from Europe for many centuries, ever since it came under totalitarian Russian control.  Whether under the Tsars or the Commi-tsars, the Russians have always feared European influence and have sought to keep their long-suffering, oppressed populations from having contact with more liberal and advanced societies.  That mentality is still strong within russified Eastern Ukraine, and there is no shortage of self-serving politicians willing to manipulate culturally ingrained prejudices to their ends, denigrating the advantages of European integration and fomenting irrational fears of NATO. 

Even here though, self-interest is causing the powerful Donbas oligarchs to reconsider their reluctance towards developing closer ties with Europe.  Ukraine’s new affluent capitalist class is eager to preserve and grow their wealth even further, and they are smart enough to see that there are far more opportunities to do so within the European market than through any kind of economic alliance with Russia and other former Soviet republics.  Further they have gotten used to being in power and control, and know full well that under any association with the Russians, this would be usurped by the centralized neo-KGB controlled Moscow autocrats currently headed by Russian President Putin.  For the moment, official government policy is cautiously pro-European, but restrained in deference to Russian sensitivities and pressure, so progress in integrating Ukraine into Europe will be cautious and uncertain.  Nonetheless, it will happen because it makes both economic and political sense to do so, both for Ukraine and for Europe.

Interestingly enough, this movement to establish closer ties with Europe is nothing new, and has long roots in Ukrainian history.  Probably the strongest proponent of this idea was Yaroslav the Wise, ruler of the Kyivan-Rus’ Empire when it was at its peak some one thousand years ago.  Although Yaroslav is now viewed as one of the giants in Ukrainian and Slavic history, it must be remembered that he was as much a Viking as he was a Rus’.  He figures prominently in ancient Norse sagas where he is better known as Jarisleif the Lame (a reference to an old battle injury).  As such, he maintained close ties with his Norse ancestral lands and was in fact married to the daughter (Ingegerd – Irene in Ukrainian) of Olof, the then King of Sweden.

Upon having consolidated power, Yaroslav sought to build up ties with the rest of Europe through strategic marriages.  He married one daughter, Elizabeth, to Harald III, King of Norway and another, Anastasia, to Andrew I, ruler of Hungary.

Another daughter, Agatha, was reputedly married to Edward the Exile, son of King Edmund Ironside, and heir to the English throne.

But perhaps the most successful of these strategic royal marital alliances was the marriage of his youngest daughter Anne to Henry I, King of France in 1051AD.  Upon the death of her husband in 1060, Anne ruled France for six years as Regent to her under age son, Phillip I, heir to the throne.  Even the name Phillip, of Byzantine origin, was introduced to France by Anne.  She was an educated woman, fluent in many languages, at a time when her husband the King could neither read nor write even in his native French.  She was a civilizing influence in the French court and made a lasting impression on French history.

Succeeding rulers of Kyivan-Rus’ continued this tradition of intermarriages within European royal houses, and it is safe to say that most noble European families have Ukrainian blood in them.  As such, I think we can state that in some measure, Ukraine is already part of Europe.