Beyond Genocide, Ethnocide and Identicide: Russia's ‘Strategic Imperial Demographic Policy’ of Russifying Ukrainian Children

AYDINGÜN A., Morkva V., Aydıngün İ.

Nations and Nationalism, 2025 (SSCI, Scopus) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Basım Tarihi: 2025
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1111/nana.70011
  • Dergi Adı: Nations and Nationalism
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Geobase, Index Islamicus, Political Science Complete, Public Affairs Index, Social services abstracts, Sociological abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, DIALNET
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: forcibly deported children, Russian-Ukrainian war, russification, strategic imperial demographic policy, Ukraine
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Following the Russian Federation's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, thousands of Ukrainian children have been forcibly taken from occupied territories and transferred to Russia. On 17 March 2023, the International Criminal Court officially recognized these actions as a war crime. Based on extensive documentary research as well as visual materials, this article argues that the Russian Federation is executing a systematic policy of child abduction. Frame analysis is used to understand the rationale behind the actions and narratives of both Ukraine and the Russian Federation. The discussion critically examines the applicability and limitations of terms such as genocide, ethnocide and identicide, contending that the phenomenon in question transcends these conceptual categories. Instead, the article proposes defining this forced transfer of Ukrainian children as a ‘strategic imperial demographic policy’.