The Ambiguities of the Separatist Symbolic “(Pro-)Russianness”

Alexandr Voronovici, ‘The Ambiguities of the Separatist Symbolic “(Pro-)Russianness”: The Case of the Unrecognised Donetsk People’s Republic’, Plural. History. Culture. Society 14, no. 2 (2025): 113-124, https://doi.org/10.37710/plural.v13i2_5

This article examines the evolution and internal ambiguities of separatist symbolic ‘(pro-)Russianness’ in the unrecognised Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) between 2014 and 2022. Focusing on symbolic politics, historical narratives, and language policy, it shows that the separatist discourse was neither linear nor ideologically coherent. In the aftermath of the failure of the Novorossiia project and the signing of the Minsk II agreement, DNR leaders temporarily emphasised Donbas regionalism, multiethnicity, and interethnic tolerance, presenting their polity as a multiethnic alternative to Ukrainian ethnic nationalism that separatists attributed to the Ukrainian leadership in Kyiv. This orientation was reflected in language policies, historical references to the Donetsk–Kryvyi Rih Soviet Republic, and educational materials. However, these narratives coexisted with competing Russian nationalist interpretations and gradually gave way to a more explicitly russkii-centric discourse. The adoption of the ‘Russian Donbas’ doctrine in 2021marked a decisive symbolic shift toward ethnic nationalism and irredentism. The article argues that these shifts reflect changing political contexts, strategic calculations, and the instrumental use of history in separatist state- and nation-building.

Link to the online open-access article: https://doi.org/10.37710/plural.v13i2_5