Minister of Military Affairs of the UPR Government on the Russian Emigration

During the many years of forced stay abroad, representatives of the Ukrainian emigration circles often met the leaders of the Russian emigration to develop joint measures to counter the totalitarian regime in the USSR. But each time there were differences in the fundamental issues of the national liberation struggle. More about this – in one of the declassified documents from the archives of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine.

The 1935 special report of the NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR entitled “On the OUN's Attitude to Russian Emigrant Organizations” reads that in April 1934 in Paris there was an exchange of views on the Ukrainian issue between representatives of the ROVS (Russian All-Military Union), which united mostly former officers of the White Army - Note) and the OUN. On behalf of the OUN, General Mykola Kapustyanskyi was present, one of the leaders of the Ukrainian emigration, a talented military leader of the UPR Army, who in the governing bodies of the OUN was engaged in the development of basic program principles in the field of military construction, and later for many years was Minister of Military Affairs of the UPR government in exile.

According to the information contained in the special report, during the meeting M. Kapustyanskyi spoke quite frankly, as follows:

“As for Russia's emigration with all its political groups, from Denikin's “single, indivisible” to Milyukov's Republican - Democratic Union, we are well aware of their point of view on the Ukrainian issue, and we do not see any change over these years…

Today, the position of the vast majority of Russian emigrants is the same as before, while the Ukrainian issue has moved from a local to a global factor.

… The policy that has been pursued by the Bolsheviks over the past 15 years only develops and strengthens national self-consciousness, and it has now penetrated the entire thickness of the Ukrainian people. This is our strength, there is nothing to break it now. Whatever government there is in Moscow, in the eyes of Ukrainians it is the Russian government…

Our movement is growing stronger every day both in our lands and in exile.

What is the power of the Russian emigration? We don't see it, what can we talk with them about… Our tasks are different…

… If the Ukrainians had to wage an armed struggle to cleanse their lands from the power of the “Muscovites”, and at the same time Russian national forces began to fight for the overthrow of the Soviet government, there would be no place in Ukraine for Russian units from which they could deploy…

Not only will we be able to fight for the liberation of our lands in an organized manner. During the struggle, not only people will flock to us from all over the world, but at the same time our farmers in Canada, Argentina and other countries will send by steamers and wagons the provisions and other supplies needed by the Army”. (SBA of the SZR of Ukraine. V. 1. – Case10693, P. 114-115).

This document is interesting for a general understanding of the relationship between Ukrainian and Russian emigration in different historical periods, the attitude of Ukrainian figures to liberal, democratic or some other Russians who tried to resist the Kremlin policy of that time. It demonstrates the original desire of Ukrainians for independence and the hope for the entire civilized world’s support in their struggle, and is also important for understanding the current realities.