Open Letter to Erik Prince

Mr. Prince,
You know the history of the United States well, as you have demonstrated in your speech at Hillsdale College, recalling the first three companies of settlers. Yet, I wish you knew the history of Ukraine as well — because without Ukraine, “Russia” has no history at all.

This war is not caused by NATO’s expansion toward Russia’s borders, as Kremlin propaganda claims. It is a war for survival — for the existence of the Ukrainian state and nation. For centuries, Russia’s policy has been to destroy the indigenous population, especially its intellectual and cultural elite, and to replace them with settlers from impoverished Russian regions.

Since the Treaty of Pereyaslav in 1654, Moscow has systematically sought to erase Ukraine’s identity. Russian historian, Professor Tatyana Tairova-Yakovleva, in her book Incorporation: Russia and Ukraine after the Pereyaslav Rada, documents how Russia’s incorporation of Ukraine was not a union, but a loss of freedom.

Kyivan Rus’, located on today’s Ukrainian territory, was tied by blood to many European royal houses, while the site of Moscow was then a swamp inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes. It was Kyiv’s Prince Yurii Dolgorukii who established Moscow — but this does not mean Ukraine ever belonged to present-day Russia. After the Mongol invasion of the 13th century, Kyiv was destroyed and came under the protection of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, where the spirit of the Magna Carta shaped freedoms. Meanwhile, the Moscow Principality remained under the Golden Horde’s rule, absorbing its autocratic ideology.

We are different in spirit, mentality, language, and our desire for freedom. The so-called “Russian nation” is a political construct. The History of the Russian State was fabricated under Peter I, who stole not only history but also the name of Rus’.

You also mentioned books on capitalism that you recommended to your students. I would recommend you read Tairova-Yakovleva’s work. It would help you understand why this war is civilizational and existential for us — and why Ukrainians, like Americans in their time, are ready to shed blood for liberty.

As Thomas Jefferson said: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Ukrainians have shed much blood, and endured much humiliation from Russia. Do not think that only Putin is to blame — it is the collective responsibility of the entire Russian people, just as Germans bore collective responsibility for WWII. Even without Putin, Russia would find another tyrant — as it always has, from Ivan the Terrible to Stalin.