Ukraine and Russia
Russian T-72 Tank Seen in Ukraine HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Most of what is now Ukraine came under Russian control in the 1700s, due to the expansionist policies of Catherine the Great. Part of western Ukraine (Galicia) was a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With the collapse of the Romanov regime in 1917 and Austria-Hungary in 1918, Ukrainians attempted to establish an independent republic. During the Russian Civil War, Ukrainian nationalist groups fought on the side of the Communist Red Army because they knew that if the monarchy were reestablished, Ukraine would be forced back into the Russian Empire. Their hopes for independence were crushed as the triumphant Communist regime absorbed Ukraine into the Soviet Union. Ukrainians suffered under the Stalinist regime. Because the Ukraine was the “bread basket” of the Soviet Union, grain and other crops were systematically confiscated by the Communist government to feed in...