Russian Language Policy as an Instrument of Cultural and Informational Expansion against Ukraine: A Retrospective Analysis

Abstract

The article presents a retrospective analysis of russia’s language policy toward Ukraine as an instrument of cultural and informational expansion. The study covers the period from the eighteenth century to the present and traces the evolution of russification practices across three historical stages: the imperial, the Soviet, and the post-Soviet periods. It demonstrates that the language policy of the Russian Empire was aimed at integrating Ukrainian territories into a unified imperial space through administrative restrictions, limitations on the use of the Ukrainian language, and the formation of a cultural hierarchy in which the russian language occupied a dominant position.

During the Soviet period, russification policies assumed more concealed forms and were implemented under the slogans of internationalism and the “friendship of peoples.” The russian language was legally institutionalized as the language of interethnic communication, which contributed to the marginalization of the Ukrainian language in the public sphere. After the collapse of the USSR, the russian language continued to function as an important instrument of cultural and informational influence through media, educational, and humanitarian initiatives that shaped a shared information space and reinforced postcolonial narratives.

Particular attention is paid to the transformation of russia’s language policy after 2014, when the language issue became a component of the information and ideological war against Ukraine. The study demonstrates that russian propaganda actively employs the concept of the “protection of russian-speaking populations” to legitimize military aggression and to promote the ideological narratives of the “russian world.”

The article concludes that russia’s language policy is characterized by structural continuity and aimed at establishing control over Ukraine’s linguistic and informational space. Its long-term consequences include sociolinguistic asymmetries, linguistic and cultural polarization, and the weakening of the state’s information sovereignty. It has been demonstrated that protecting the national language space is an essential element of modern information security and a necessary condition for strengthening the state.