9 Historical Milestone Moments Explaining the Russian Invasion

#2 the Pereyaslav Agreement

The Mongol power over European lands started to diminish in the 14th century, and this brought about power-hungry people that wanted to assimilate the Rus lands. This is how the Grand Principality of Moscow and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (who would later become Poland) divided the lands between them. This is how a group of Ukrainian Cossacks developed along the southern border of Poland, their main role being to keep the border safe from the Tatar and Turkish raids, and eventually became a semi-independent region, despite being under a Polish king’s rule.

This is how the concept of Ukraine started to exist, despite the fact that the people still called themselves the people of Rus. They still made sure to draw the line between themselves and the future Russians, calling them ‘Muscovites’, as they belonged to Moscow. In the early 17th century, this community of early Ukrainians was getting persecuted by the Polish religious policies (as they were Orthodox Christians) and they started a rebellion war against them.

To gain allies against Poland, the Cossacks ended up signing a treaty in 1654 with the Russian tsar, bringing them under their “protection”. This treaty is known as the Treaty of Pereyaslav, or the Pereyaslav Agreement and the protection the Russian tsar agreed to is contested. This is because, after not managing to break away from Moscow in 1709, the Cossack lands ended up being annexed because of the treaty.