Authors
Marcin Skladanowski1; 1 The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland Discussion
The ‘rewriting’ of history is not a new phenomenon in Russia. Examples of such a historical policy were the successive editions of the ‘Short Course in the History of the VKP(b)’ or the ‘Great Soviet Encyclopaedia’, in which facts were altered to suit current ideological lines. These Soviet patterns have returned in Putin’s historical policy. In recent years, many historical facts have been reinterpreted and an official version of history, taught in schools, has been introduced. The reinterpretation of history reached a new level in 2021, during ideological preparations for war against Ukraine. In the article ‘On the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians’, Putin rejected the idea of a separate Ukrainian national identity, the existence of a Ukrainian nation and language, and the legitimate sovereignty of Ukraine as a state. He also carefully avoided using the term ‘Kyivan Rus’. According to Putin, Polish elites and Austro-Hungarian officials created Ukrainians as a separate nation in the 19th century. Such historical theses became binding in Russian public discourse after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
In this presentation, we want to point out: 1) the main elements of the ongoing reinterpretation of history in Russia, 2) their causes and political and social significance; 3) the effectiveness of Putin’s historical policy, which can be assessed by the results of opinion polls. 
