M.N. Katkov"s Criticism of the Ideology of "Ukrainophilism"
In the article the author examines the views on the Ukrainian problem of the famous Russian conservative M.N. Katkov, the publisher of the “Moskovskie Vedomosti” journal and “Russkij Vestnik” magazine. Katkov criticized the so-called “Ukrainophilism”, the outstanding representative of which was the historian N.I. Kostomarov. Kostomarov and his associates were aspired to create the special literary Ukrainian language on the basis of the rural dialect. Therefore they laid the foundation for the development of the basic cultural practice of Ukrainian nationalism. Katkov was one of the first public figures who described the potential threat of the ideology and the practice of “Ukrainophilism”, its Russophobic and anti-imperial components. He predicted the tragic consequences of the successful putting into practice the basic ideas of Ukrainian nationalism.