With the participation of Nevyana Andreeva, translator of the book; historians Alexey Kalyonski and Evlogi Stanchev; and journalist Boyko Vasilev. Moderator: Alexander Kiossev 

The book by Serhii Plokhii, a Harvard historian of Ukrainian origin, traces the development and points of intersection of Russian nationalism and imperialism over their nearly 600-year history: from the emergence of the independent Moscow state to the annexation of Crimea. Published five years before the war in Ukraine and proving tragically insightful, Lost Kingdom: The Quest for Empire and the Making of the Russian Nation has now been published in Bulgarian (Prozorets Publishing House 2024, trans. Nevyana Andreeva). 

Plokhii is primarily interested in the processes that shaped Russian national consciousness and its impact on the historical development of Ukraine. His analysis traverses many historical paths and directions: from the founding myth of the “lost kingdom” (according to the author, this myth about the once “Russian” lands of ancient Kievan Rus is at the very foundation of the imperial narrative), through the complex fate of the outlying western territories of the Russian Empire, subjected to continuous expansion and assimilation, up to the emergence of Ukrainian national consciousness. The threads of this centuries-long conflicted history painfully intersect to come together in Plokhy’s frightening and, alas, now fulfilled prophecy: “The question of Russian identity and its geographical extent is of more than academic interest, as it influences issues of war and peace along Europe’s eastern frontiers today and will influence them for generations to come.”

Serhii Plokhii is the Mykhailo Hrushevskyi Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University and the director of its Ukrainian Research Institute. His books—which include The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History, The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine, Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe, Yalta: The Price of Peace, The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union—have been translated into nearly 20 languages.

In Bulgarian

Organizers: The Cultural Center of Sofia University and the Center for Reading and Culture, in partnership with Prozorets Publishing