The Ukraine war seen through the prism of national minorities

A conservative pundit interprets the Ukraine war in the context of the minority policies of Ukraine and Russia, and what he describes as European ignorance of the problems faced by national minorities in Ukraine.

Magyar Hírlap’s Dániel Deme explains the war in Ukraine as a direct consequence of the mismanagement of autochthonous minorities by Ukraine, Russia and the EU. The conservative commentator suggests that the Ukrainian government has for many years tacitly cooperated with ultra-nationalist movements that targeted national minorities, first and foremost Russians. President Putin, on the other hand, mistakenly assumed that Russian troops would be welcomed by Russians living in Ukraine, Deme adds, on the basis that ethnic communities maintain strong local identities and are attached to the territories they inhabit as minorities. Deme also lays part of the responsibility for the current crisis at the doorstep of the European Union, for turning a blind eye to Kyiv’s violation of minority rights.

Tags: ethnic minorities, EU, Russia, Transcarpathia, Ukraine