On 24 April, the presentation of the collection based on the materials of 11 Bandera readings -“Liquidation of the Russian Empire” was held at the Ye Bookstore in Kyiv with the publication authors’ participation.
Yuriy Syrotyuk, a director of the analytical centre “Ukrainian Studies of Strategic Studies”, noted during the presentation: “In the existential war with Russia, the war of the Ukrainian nation against Russian imperialism, knowing the enemy is no less important than knowing oneself. To know what its imperialism is based on and to study its weaknesses. To know how it has acted in order to understand what it will do in the future.
Today, Ukrainians have a historic chance to destroy Russian imperialism and enable the hidden world of nations and regions enslaved by Russia, to gain the right to independence. This chance is not an axiom but a chance. It must be defeated in a difficult battle. But no generation of Ukrainians has had such a favourable situation as the current one.”
The Head of research programmes of the National Centre for Strategic Studies of Ukraine Yuriy Oliynyk spoke about the book’s structure. Its four sections analyze the general problems of the empire (economics, demography, political fragility), the situation of enslaved nations, as well as the interests of Ukraine and the world in the reconstruction of the northern Eurasia space. The authors look at the problem through two vectors – internal processes in Muscovy itself and reaction scenarios for its neighbours. Only the preliminary development of the algorithm of actions will allow quick reactions in critical moments that will threaten the empire’s integrity.
The researcher also emphasized that the Kremlin seeks totalitarian practices, but is unable to fully implement them due to the gradual loss of control over the regions. A typical example is opposition to the racist “history textbook” in the Caucasian republics. Also, regional leaders have already directly recognized the inability of the central government to protect certain zones, particularly, the airspace.
Oleksandr Chupak, head of economic programmes at the analytical centre “Ukrainian Studies of Strategic Research”, emphasized that the book is intended to show the inevitability of the Russian empire’s destruction. It is an informative counterweight to those voices that convince us of the hopelessness of further resistance to the occupiers.
As one of the authors of the economic section of the book, Oleksandr expressed admiration for the fact that his predictions are beginning to come true. “The economy of the empire was so structurally distorted in the direction of war that the civilian population was left to fend for itself with its problems. Almost every day we see the flooded streets of large Russian cities, the lack of food in stores, the inability of local authorities to provide the most basic services.”
The participants of the event shared their feedback about the valuable book.
A huge thanks to Ye Bookstore for its hospitality and everyone who found the time and opportunity to attend the event. This book, like the previous collections of Bandera readings, can and should be ordered from the Bandera bookstore https://ounbooks.com/.
Oksana Topinko
