Anti-Ukrainian sentiment or Ukrainophobia is animosity towards Ukrainians , Ukrainian culture , language or Ukraine as a nation. In modern times, significant presence of Ukrainophobia may be distinguished in three geographical areas, where it differs by its roots and manifestation:. Historically, Ukrainian culture was oppressed in states which included the Ukrainian population: Russian Empire , Soviet Union and historical Polish states.
Modern scholars define two types of anti-Ukrainian sentiment. One is based on discrimination of Ukrainians based on their ethnic or cultural origin, a typical kind of xenophobia and racism.
Another one is based on the conceptual rejection of Ukrainians, Ukrainian culture, and language as artificial and unnatural; at the turn of the 20th century, several authors supported an assertion that Ukrainian identity and language had been created artificially in order to undermine Russia.
Ukrainophobic stereotypes range from mockery to ascribing negative traits to the whole Ukrainian nation. The rise and spread of Ukrainian self-awareness around the time of the Revolutions of produced an anti-Ukrainian sentiment within some layers of society within the Russian empire.
In order to retard and control this movement, the use of Ukrainian language within the Russian empire was initially restricted by official government decrees such as the Valuev Circular July 18, and later banned by the Ems ukaz May 18, from any use in print with the exception of reprinting of old documents.
