Ivan Mazepa - Historical Legacy

Historical Legacy

Mazepa's decision to abandon his allegiance to the Russian Empire was considered treason by the Russian Tsar and a violation of the Treaty of Pereyaslav. However others argue that it was Imperial Russia who broke the treaty, because it failed to even try to protect the Cossack homeland while busy fighting abroad while Ukrainian peasants had complained about the conduct of local Muscovite troops, Cossacks had died while building Saint Petersburg and the Tsars planned to deploy Cossack troops far from their homeland.

The image of a disgraceful traitor persisted throughout Russian and Soviet history. The Russian Orthodox Church anathemaised and excommunicated him for political reasons. Until 1869 his name was even added to the list of traitors publicly cursed in Russian churches during the Feast of Orthodoxy service, along with Pugachev, Razin and False Dmitry I. Later on a positive view of Mazepa was taboo in the Soviet Union and considered as a sign of "Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism". During the years of Perestroika, however, many historical works saw light which viewed Mazepa differently. After Ukraine's independence in 1991, Mazepa was proclaimed a national hero in Ukraine's official historiography and mainstream media, because he was the first post-Pereyaslav Treaty hetman to take a stand against the Tsar, who failed to ratify that Treaty. This view however is still disputed by pro-Russian factions. According to an April 2009 survey by the Research & Branding Group 30 percent of the population of Ukraine views Mazepa as "a man who fought for the independence of Ukraine", while 28 percent view him "as a turncoat who joined the enemy's ranks".

During an event in Mazepyntsi to mark the 370th birthday (March 20, 2009) of Hetman Mazepa, President Viktor Yushchenko called for the myth about the alleged treason of Mazepa to be dispelled. According to Yushchenko the hetman wanted to create an independent Ukraine and architecture was thriving in Ukraine over the years of Mazepa's rule, "Ukraine was reviving as the country of European cultural traditions". The same day around a hundred people held a protest in Simferopol against the marking of the 370th birthday of Mazepa. The protesters held posters with slogans as: "Dog Mazepa, damn you and your ideological followers!", "Eternal shame on the sickly Judas - Ivashka Mazepa and his followers!" and "Ukraine's future is in alliance with Russia". They also held flags of Russia, as well as portraits of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and Russian Emperor Peter the Great. In May 2009 the Russian foreign ministry stated in an answer to Ukraine's preparations to mark the 300th anniversary of the battle of Poltava and plans to erect a monument to Mazepa that those were attempts at an "artificial, far-fetched confrontation with Russia. We would like to remind the leaders of Ukraine that playing games with history, especially with hidden nationalist motives, has never led to any good."

Mazepa's portrait is found on the 10 hryvnia (Ukrainian currency) bill.

Late August 2009 Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko demanded the resuming of a halted construction of an Ivan Mazepa monument in Poltava. A monument to Mazepa will be erected on Slava Square in Kiev in 2010 to fulfill a decree of Yushchenko.

After researching his genealogy in 2009 (then) President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko did not rule out that his family is connected with the family of Ivan Mazepa.

In August, 2009, a monument to the hetman was unveiled in Chernihiv.

The Ivan Mazepa Street in Kiev, which runs past the Pechersk Lavra, was partly changed to Lavrska Street in July 2010. The move was met with protests.