Today the problem of partial occupation of the territory of Ukraine is acute regardless of the time of the First or Second World Wars, and given the current RussianUkrainian war. The annexation of Crimea, the occupation of certain areas of the Ukrainian Donbass with the proclamation of fake “LPR-DPR”, an attempt to declare the same “state fakes” in southern Ukraine during the full-scale Russian war against our state in February 2022 encourage reflexive analogies primarily with statehood in Ukraine. Consequently, a new problem in Ukrainian scientific thought regarding the nature of Soviet statehood in Ukraine as an occupation is relevant.

The purpose of the article, which does not claim to be empirical or factual, is to investigate the political and legal nature of Soviet statehood in Ukraine as an occupation in accordance with the criteria developed in science to assess the nature of the occupying power.

According to the author, the most obvious aspects of the analysis of the problem mentioned in the title are the spread of Soviet statehood in Ukraine and, in particular, laying the foundations of the Soviet political and legal systems and the national composition of Soviet authorities in the USSR. And the chronological periods of the actual formation in Ukraine of Soviet statehood (1917–1921) and its spread to Western lands (1939–1940 and 1945).

The thesis is proposed that the Soviet statehood in Ukraine was not “local” ethnocultural, that is, one that was organically formed in the middle of Ukrainian society, hence – was not specifically Ukrainian national. Instead, it was introduced and implanted from outside as a cover for aggression against the Ukrainian People’s Republic, and more broadly as an implementation of the centuries-old Russian imperial doctrine of Ukraine’s political takeover.

It is proved that from the very beginning of the uprising in Ukraine, Soviet statehood developed within the framework of “another” Soviet Russian totalitarian state and the legal system. The mechanisms of the introduction of Soviet statehood in the Ukrainian lands after the collapse of the Romanov empire are considered. It was established that they had signs of Russian occupation with armed interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state. It is substantiated that, in essence, the form of Soviet occupation of Western Ukrainian lands was their Sovietization of a complex of socio-economic, political, national-cultural and repressive-punitive measures aimed at the absorption of the annexed territories.

As a result, it is thought that it would be wrong to neglect the formal state status of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic – a direct consequence of its occupation. At that time, Ukraine had clear but formal signs of statehood: its own territory, state symbols, parliament, government, and even membership in the United Nations and its subsidiaries. It is believed that even such a lame state status of the USSR potentially provided Ukraine with a path to independence.

Bibliography

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Newspaper articles

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Theses

40. Kondratiuk S, ‘Vstanovlennia i funktsionuvannia radianskoho rezhymu v Zakhidnii Ukraini u 1939–1941 rr. (derzhavno-pravovyi aspekt)’ (avtoref kand yuryd nauk, 2003) (in Ukrainian).

41. Malets O, ‘Etnopolitychni ta etnokulturni protsesy na Zakarpatti 40–80-kh rr. XX st.’ (avtoref kand ist nauk, 2003) (in Ukrainian).

42. Saifulina Yu, ‘Vstanovlennia i rozbudova radianskoho derzhavnoho rezhymu v Pivnichnii Bukovyni v 1940 1947 rr.: istoryko-pravove doslidzhennia’ (avtoref kand yuryd nauk, 2009) (in Ukrainian).

Conference papers

43. Derev’ianyi I, ‘Do problemy okupatsiinoho kharakteru polskoho rezhymu na zakhidnoukrainskykh zemliakh u 1918–1939 rr.’ v Volynska trahediia: cherez istoriiu do porozuminnia: materialy Vseukrainskoi naukovoi konferentsii (m. Lutsk, 19– 20 chervnia 2013) (Shvab A ukl, Skhidnoievrop nats un-t im Lesi Ukrainky 2013) 121–8 (in Ukrainian).

44. Terliuk I, ‘Chy bula radianska derzhavnist v Ukraini 1917–1921 rr. okupatsiinoiu?’ Derzhava v umovakh nadzvychainoho, voiennoho stanu ta/chy viiskovoi okupatsii: istoriia i suchasnist (pravovi aspekty): Materialy Chetvertoi Vseukrainskoi naukovoi internetkonferentsii (m. Lviv, 19 chervnia 2015 r.) (Naukovi Internet-konferentsii vyp 4, LihaPres 2015) 49–57 (in Ukrainian).