This interview was completed by 3rd-year Carleton Journalism and Communications Student Christine Ackerley during the first day of the Post-Soviet Diasporas Conference on March 20, 2014.
The Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, partnered with Metropolis and Migration & Diaspora Studies at Carleton University to present a joint conference on March 20 and 21.
The conference was titled post-Soviet Diaspora: Identities, Linkages and Transformation. Its overarching goal was to identify and assess the effects of the activities of post-Soviet diasporas in Europe, North America and other host states and to understand better the economic, political, social and cultural relationships of these diasporas with their kin in their homelands.
Over 80 proposals from 20 countries answered the conference’s call for papers. Scholars representing Canada, Russia, USA, Hungary, Israel, UK and Germany came to Carleton to present their research.
The research and discussions were especially timely in light of the recent events in Russian and Ukraine. Milana Nikolko is an Adjunct Research Professor at the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at Carleton. She explained different aspects of the Ukrainian crisis, and the broader goals of the conference.
Christine Ackerley: Why should the situation in Ukraine and Russia matter to Canadians and the larger international community?
Milana Nikolko: I know it seems that the situation in Crimea is far, far away – that it’s happening somewhere in Europe – but lets take a look from a different perspective. We have 1.2 million Ukrainians in Canada; it’s a huge community. They’re very interested in what’s going on in Ukraine, they’re trying to save their heritage and trying to help the motherland. Although they’ve settled here and they are Canadian, they have a big piece of their heart back in Ukraine. So, I think it’s very important to take a look at what’s going on from an internal Canadian perspective.
But taking a look from the geopolitical perspective is also important. There are big changes talking about the new order in post-Soviet space after the collapse in 1991 of the Soviet Union. It’s the first open annexation of a foreign territory after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and it could jeopardize the whole security system in the region. So when we’re talking about Ukraine right now, we’re not talking about a specific country or region of Crimea, we’re talking about the security system in the post-Soviet states.
CA: What is commonly misunderstood about the situation?
MK: Something that’s really missing in the political discourse in Canadian mass media and with Canadian politicians is the economic situation in Crimea and Ukraine. We kind of forget that Ukraine is the second-poorest country in Europe, after Moldova. So from this perspective, when we analyze why people in Crimea voted to be part of Russia, the economic factor is very important. A basic comparison: The ratio of retired people’s pensions in Russia compared to Ukraine is three to one. So the people in Ukraine, they have pensions three times smaller than people who live in Russia.
Ukrainian people are looking for better jobs and a better future. Ukraine now is facing default. Economic support from the EU and from western countries, like Canada, is very important. But is shouldn’t just be investments of money, it should be smart organization of the Ukrainian economy, which is definitely in a devastated state.
Another thing to mention about the Crimean situation is that very simplistic division of Ukraine on pro-western and pro-Russian society. But it’s not that simple. Ukraine is definitely a divided society, but it’s not just pro-western and pro-Russian as two major groups. There is also a generation division. In Crimea, it’s particularly important. We have a large segment of people who are recently retired, and of course they depend on their pensions. That’s why people support a move towards Russia.
We have very few young people who settled in Crimea because of economic circumstances. Many young people immigrated locally, to Kiev. So the population of Crimea is mostly retired people, or people who work for the government. They depend on security and stability, and they can’t actually make their fortune themselves right now.
We also have to be very careful when we talk about who represents the Ukrainian government right now. It’s not a team of people who have worked together for a long time. Some still have connections to certain regions or old corruption. It’s not easy to understand how to communicate to the new leaders.
The big break-though is going to be on May 25, when Ukraine is supposed to elect a new president. The most important intrigue right now is who is going to be the Ukrainian president. Is it going to be a person from the previous political elite? It looks like it’s going to be. I’m talking Yulia Tymoshenko. She has big ambitions to become the new president of Ukraine, and big support. Or it’s going to be some of new leaders. We’re talking about Vitaly Klitschko, the boxer. He’s well known in the western world, but he does not have big support in Ukraine, unfortunately. So the situation is very unclear, and the processes of getting a new leader and a team for the new leader is going through tremendous problems. We can see huge changes in Ukrainian politics in the coming days.
CA: What is the value of having this academic conference?
MK: We were planning this conference almost two years ago. The new developments in the Ukrainian crisis have given it a big boost. But we tried to think about post-Soviet diaspora and immigration not just as a process as connected to the region, but as the global linkages and transformation try to understand the part of global process. I hope we will come to some final ideas. Maybe we will just answer some questions. But we’ve tried to design the conference with the perspective of global development and global changes: what’s happening right now in the world. That’s why we’re talking about linkages, transformation, economic connections, political communication, and role of international communities in processes of communications between homeland and hostland.
