| Rusyns are an ethnic group that never | | | | people, or 0.8%, of Ukraine's |
| attained the status of independent | | | | Zakarpattya oblast (province) identified |
| statehood, except for a half a year | | | | themselves as Rusyns; in contrast, |
| period in 1919 (Podkarpatska Rus) and a | | | | 1,010,000 considered themselves |
| few days in 1939 (Carpatho-Ukraine). As | | | | Ukrainians.[3] Research conducted by the |
| such, their fortunes have rested in the | | | | University of Cambridge during the |
| hands of larger powers, such as Hungary, | | | | height of political Ruthenianism in the |
| Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, Poland, the | | | | mid-nineties, that focused on five |
| Soviet Union, Ukraine, and Russia. In | | | | specific regions within Zakarpattya |
| contrast to the modern Ukrainian | | | | oblast with the strongest pro-Ruthenian |
| national movement that united Western | | | | cultural and political activism, found |
| Ukrainians with those from the rest of | | | | that only nine percent of the population |
| Ukraine, the Rusyn national movement | | | | claimed Rusyn ethnicity.[4] These |
| takes two forms: one considers Rusyns as | | | | numbers may change with the further |
| a separate East Slavic nation, while the | | | | acceptance of Rusyn identity and the |
| other is based on the concept of | | | | Rusyn language in educational systems in |
| fraternal unity with Russians. | | | | the area, but at the moment most |
| Most if not all of the Eastern Slavic | | | | Ruthenians consider themselves |
| inhabitants of present-day Western | | | | Ukrainians. |
| Ukraine referred to themselves as Rusyns | | | | The Rusyn national movement is much |
| (Ukrainian: ??????, translit. Rusyny) | | | | stronger among those Rusyn groups that |
| prior to the nineteenth century, the | | | | became geographically separated from |
| majority of these people became active | | | | present-day Ukrainian territories, for |
| participants in the creation of the | | | | example the Rusyn emigrants in the |
| Ukrainian nation and came to call | | | | United States and Canada, as well as the |
| themselves Ukrainians (Ukrainian: | | | | Rusyns still included within the borders |
| ????????, translit. Ukrayintsi). There | | | | of Slovakia. A census in the latter |
| were, however, ethnic Rusyn enclaves | | | | country in 2001 showed that 24,000 |
| which were not a part of this movement: | | | | people considered themselves Rusyn while |
| those living on the border of the same | | | | 11,000 considered themselves to be |
| territory or in more isolated regions, | | | | Ukrainians. The Pannonian Rusyns in |
| such as the people from Carpathian | | | | Serbia, who migrated there during the |
| Ruthenia, Poleshuks, or the Rusyns of | | | | rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, |
| Podlachia. With no reason to change | | | | also consider themselves to be Rusyns. |
| their self-identifying monikers, these | | | | In the nineteenth and early twentieth |
| isolated groups continued to refer to | | | | centuries, some Rusyns resettled in |
| themselves as Rusyns even after the | | | | Vojvodina (in present day Serbia), as |
| majority of their people had switched to | | | | well as in Slavonia (in present-day |
| a Ukrainian self-identification. In this | | | | Croatia). Still other Rusyns migrated to |
| sense, Rusyns are similar to other | | | | the northern regions of present-day |
| borderland ethnicities, and their | | | | Bosnia and Herzegovina, although many of |
| national awakening can be viewed by some | | | | this ethnicity in Bosnia identify |
| as a negation of Ukrainian nationalism. | | | | themselves as Ukrainians. Until the 1971 |
| Some scholars consider the Lemko, Boyko, | | | | Yugoslav census, both Ukrainians |
| Hutsul, Verkhovinetses (Verkhovyntsi, or | | | | (Serbian: ?????????, tr. Ukrajinci) and |
| Highlanders), and Dolinyanin (Haynal) | | | | Rusyns (Serbian: ??????, tr. Rusini) in |
| ethnic groups to be Rusyn. Indeed, as | | | | these areas were recorded collectively |
| with the rest of the inhabitants of | | | | as "Ruthenes". Podkarpatskije Rusiny is |
| present-day Western Ukraine in the 19th | | | | considered the Rusyn "national anthem", |
| century and first part of the 20th | | | | Ja Rusyn byl jesm' i budu the national |
| century, these peoples referred to | | | | song. |
| themselves as Rusyns. However, some of | | | | Historically, in order to separate the |
| these ethnic groups consider themselves | | | | Ukrainian people, the Polish and |
| to be wholely separate ethnicities, | | | | Hungarian states are considered to have |
| while some claim to be Ukrainians and | | | | helped in the development of a Rusyn |
| still others identify themselves as | | | | identity as a separate one from that of |
| Rusyns. According to a recent Ukrainian | | | | Ukrainians. Rusyns were even recorded as |
| census, an overwhelming majority of | | | | a separate nationality by the censuses |
| Boykos, Lemkos, Hutsuls, Verkhovinetses | | | | taken in pre-WWII Poland (see Cezary |
| and Dolinyanins in Ukraine stated their | | | | Chlebowski's Wachlarz). |
| ethnicity as Ukrainian. About 10,100 | | | | |