About the book: 2000 / This is the first book ever written in Russia on this topic . The process of decision-making by the authorities regarding the Ukrainian national movement was recreated using a large complex of archival materials from GARF, RGIA, AVPRI, the Manuscript Department of the Russian State Library and the Manuscript Department of the National Library. Many documents were used for the first time. To study public opinion on the “Ukrainian issue,” materials from a significant number of periodicals were used. Particular attention was paid to the period of the reign of Alexander II, when a number of instructions and decrees regarding the Ukrainian movement were adopted, which remained in force until 1905. The conflict is described as a clash of the Ukrainian project of the national construction with a project for the formation of a “big Russian nation”, which was supposed to unite large, small and Belarusians. The outcome of this struggle is interpreted more as a failure of assimilation efforts aimed at implementing the project of a large Russian nation than as a success of the Ukrainian movement. The reasons for the weakness of the Russian assimilation potential are determined by comparing the Russification policy towards the East Slavic population of the empire with a similar policy of the French, British and Spanish authorities, aimed at the political consolidation and cultural homogenization of the population of the European centers of these empires into a nation. Following all the requirements for a scientific monograph, the author tried to write the book in such a way as to make it interesting to read for a wide range of readers.