The Institute Of World Politics

Ethan S. Burger, IWP Cyber Intelligence Instructor and International Attorney, discusses "Ukrainian National Identity and Russian Intelligence Failure." About the Lecture: Upon independence in 1991, Ukraine was divided by linguistic and geographic fault lines. This situation existed throughout Ukrainian society and presumably its institutions. Over the subsequent 30 years, the extent of social cohesion changed. The schools began to teach about Ukrainian history and emphasize the Ukrainian language and literature. Throughout Ukrainian society, a civic culture evolved where the concept of “citizenship” supplanted ethnic or linguistic identity in importance. Whereas Russian President Putin maintained his post-Soviet persona, a majority of Ukrainians were educated in an independent Ukraine that was more influenced by Western than Russian values. President Putin believed that his armed forces could exploit fault lines that remained in Ukraine to achieve a decisive military victory in a short amount of time and