Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an international academic network of regional specialists on the former Soviet Union and socialist bloc countries was newly founded. The group, known as RUTA (Association for Central, South-Eastern, Eastern European, Baltic, Caucasus, Central and Northern Asian Studies in Global Conversation), held its second annual meeting in June 2025, in the tri-border area of Ukraine, Hungary, and Slovakia. RUTA was initiated by a group of young scholars who recognized that academia had long prioritized Russia while neglecting the perspectives of other countries, including Ukraine.

What are RUTA’s goals? What challenges lie ahead for future research? And how can academic work continue amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine?

We spoke with Dr. Botakoz Kassymbekova, Professor at the University of Zurich and a Kazakhstani-born historian of the Soviet Union, who played a leading role in establishing RUTA.

(Interview conducted by Norito Kunisue, Project Professor at RCAST)

 

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When the full-scale invasion began, it quickly became obvious that much of the media lacked real knowledge about Ukraine or viewed the region through a highly Russia-centric lens. People assumed that what Russia said about Ukraine was true. Russian propaganda claimed, “Ukrainian society is divided,” or “Many Ukrainians want to join Russia.” Shockingly, even educated people and respected scholars believed this narrative. For me, it was a profound shock—this was colonization.

I started asking: Why do they believe this propaganda? During those first months, we were constantly saying, “This is wrong. That’s incorrect.” But it became exhausting to just criticize. I decided we needed to build something, not just complain.

The largest academic association on Eastern Europe is ASEEES (Association for Slavic, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies), based in the United States. But there’s a major issue: American scholarship is more focused on Russian studies and major networks are with scholars from Russia. Of course, structurally it is understandable. Major archives are based in Moscow and St. Petersburg and by default one is connected to scholars where archives are. However, there is an imperial lens, too. Metropolitan scholars are bestowed with authority to speak for the entire region. Even this structural bias produces Russia-centric scholarship. 

I remember reading a newspaper headline after the invasion: “Russia Attacks an Ex-Soviet Republic.” It didn’t even name Ukraine. To the world, there was only Russia—the rest of were just “former Soviet republics.” We want to change that.

 

On the other hand, scholars from Ukraine or Georgia, for example, were often invited only to speak about their home countries—not Russia. 

RUTA’s aim is to change that and also to overcome another imperial dimension. Scholars from non-Russian states rarely spoke to each other. Many panels were organized nationally, i.e. there was a panel on Polish history, on Baltic history, Central Asia. As a result, Polish scholars rarely spoke with Kazakh scholars. Kazakh scholars rarely connected with Georgians. Academia mirrored the broader imperial divisions. That’s when I realized—we need a new association. A space where, for example, a Georgian, an Estonian, and a Pole could share a panel and talk to each other.

We want transnational panels. We want Ukrainians to talk to Central Asians. Central Asians to talk to Poles and so on. Another aim is to center voices, which so far were marginalized in academia. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, how many conferences featured experiences of Chechens, Crimean Tatars? Without their voices and perspectives, it is impossible to understand the region. We also want to discuss our past and societies with scholars, activists and artists from outside of the region, especially with those people who study societies who were subject to colonial rule. That’s what we mean by global conversation.

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Yes. This year we had around 170 participants, although many were afraid to come to Ukraine because of recent attacks. Last year, we had over 500 applicants, but we couldn’t accommodate them all—we simply didn’t have enough bomb shelters.

In the future, we aim to build a large organization with at least 1,000 members, maybe even several thousand. First, we want to build strong regional connections and create a lasting academic networks. We teach each other how to understand our respective regions.

We’ve already launched a webinar series featuring top scholars from the region. Topics have included Serbian protests, Georgian resistance movements, life in Crimea, indigenous communities in Russia, and the experience of Asians in Russia. We provide expertise from the ground.

In the past, people would always consult Moscow scholars—even when they had no real knowledge of Moldova or Georgia. Now, we can say: Here are our experts

. These are our members. When someone asks, “Who’s doing research on Moldova?”—we have a network.

Many of us are early-career scholars. So this organization will grow with us, and we will grow with it.

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Because being in Ukraine changes your perspective. Also, many Ukrainian scholars—especially men—can’t leave the country due to martial law. It feels deeply unfair that Western and Russian scholars can travel freely, attend conferences, enjoy good meals and coffee, while Ukrainian men remain under siege.

How many universities have been bombed? How many professors have had to flee? So hosting international conferences in Ukraine is an act of solidarity. If they can’t go out, then we must come in.

There are frequent blackouts—no electricity, no internet—which makes it hard to maintain intellectual life. So we support the development of intellectual life here.

And personally, I believe we must hold our meetings in Kyiv in the future. It’s our way of expressing gratitude to a nation that continues to resist.

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Yes. Each year, a new conference committee is formed, and they choose the theme. It’s very important that we listen to marginalized voices—because they offer different perspectives.

Ukraine, in many ways, was itself marginalized. Now people ask, “Why was Ukraine attacked?” Perhaps because it was marginalized.

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That’s exactly why we organized a session at ASEEES. We presented our work there. Some of us, including myself, attend ASEEES and talk about RUTA.

We tell people, “Come to us. Visit Ukraine. You might change your perspective.”

We’re not competing—we’re diversifying. We’re saying: they’re valuable, but we’re doing something new. If we present a more compelling model, they may adopt some of our approaches. We are also learning from old experience and new initiatives. Together we can positively influence each other.

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We absolutely want intergenerational dialogue. Several senior American scholars were supposed to attend this year but canceled at the last minute. I think political factors—like the Trump administration—made some of them hesitant to leave the U.S.

We hope more senior scholars will join. But at the same time, we are building a new intellectual movement—and providing platform for a new generation of scholars, who will hopefully take responsibility for it in the future.

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We would love to. But at the moment, it’s a question of finances. It’s simply very difficult for us to organize that right now.

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No, Russian citizens are currently not allowed to enter Ukraine.

Last year, someone originally from Russia who had acquired German citizenship was able to attend. 

Some others from regions like Chechnya applied, but they still hold Russian passports, so we couldn’t invite them.

They thanked us for our efforts and expressed support for the project.

This is only our second year, and our priority is to build strong, progressive foundations for the future.

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Professor of Eastern European History at the University of Zurich. She holds a Ph.D. in Modern History from Humboldt University in Berlin and was a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York. Her research focuses on Soviet history, Stalinism and post-Stalinism, and the history of Russian imperialism.

Her first book, Despite Cultures: Early Soviet Rule in Tajikistan (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2016), explores Soviet colonial strategies in Central Asia, with a focus on how Moscow communicated and imposed rule across vast distances, and how Soviet officials in the colonized peripheries often misunderstood the system they were trying to implement.