Representation of Socio-Political Events in Ukraine in the Context of the Publications of the newspaper “Sakartvelo” of 1917-1918

Abstract

The paper deals with the publications of the national-democratic newspaper “Sakartvelo” (“Georgia”) (1915-1921), which reflect the socio-political events in Ukraine in 1917-1918 - the historical background of Russian-Ukrainian relations. The relevance of the research issue is determined by the modern perspective of the topic, in particular, the fact that on February 24, 2022 the armed forces of the Russian Federation announced so-called peacekeeping mission and invaded Ukraine under the pretext of "demilitarization and denationalization", resulting, in an unprecedented military confrontation between Ukraine and Russia on the European continent, which threatens the security of states, including Georgia. Modern processes in Ukraine, the historical aspects of the relations between Ukraine and Bolshevik Russia are discussed in the article on the example of the publications of the newspaper “Sakartvelo”, which has not yet been the subject of a special study. The study of newspaper publications will make it possible to understand the historical context of one of the most pressing problems in the modern world, its political or social aspects. The research topic is also relevant in terms of the analysis of socio-political events of this era. For the newspaper “Sakartvelo”, as the major publication with a national editorial policy, the priority is to reflect the future of the countries within the Russian Empire, the struggle for their independence. This issue becomes even more topical in the context of the ongoing processes and the established geopolitical reality during the First World War (1914-1918). The causal analysis of the events confirms that these processes largely determined the subsequent events, as well as contemporary reality. Thus, the study of the issue from this point of view also contributes to the understanding of the genesis of the problem and the analysis of contemporary trends. The research publications of the newspaper “Sakartvelo” on the topic of Ukraine reflect the period of the country's civil war - from November 1917 to the proclamation of independence of Ukraine on January 22, 1918, as well as the formation of the People's Republic of Ukraine. “Sakartvelo” has published 200 articles of different volumes on this topic. The material is mostly informative and presents events in chronological order. It is characterized by eventfulness, documentary nature, accuracy and truthfulness of the processes. The newspaper has special permanent headings: "National Issue - Russia and Ukraine", "Ukraine", "Ukrainian News", "In Ukraine". The most up-to-date news is published in the column "Latest Telegrams". The newspaper, under the heading "Crimea", publishes articles about the current events in Crimea. It should be noted that the materials were obtained from various periodicals as well as information sources. In parallel with the reflection of contemporary events in Ukraine, the essence of Bolshevism as a common threat to countries striving for state sovereignty is presented, which in general is the main feature of the publication's publicist discourse.  The research process involves archival work - search for newspaper materials, systematization - classification, content analysis of publications. The paper is based on interdisciplinary approaches. With the help of this methodology, the research issue will be comprehensively analyzed on the basis of contextual knowledge. As a result of the research, it will be possible to study the actual issue of the newspaper "Sakartvelo", which was published in the most important period of the history of Georgian journalism in the XX century, and to find a modern reception for the research issue.