Editing Ruthenia (section)

== Modern period ==

=== Ukraine ===
The use of the term ''Rus/Russia'' in the lands of Rus' survived longer as a name used by [[Ukrainians]] for Ukraine.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}} When the [[Habsburg monarchy|Austrian monarchy]] made the vassal state of [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Galicia–Lodomeria]] into a province in 1772, Habsburg officials realized that the local [[East Slavs|East Slavic people]] were distinct from both [[Polish people|Poles]] and [[Russians]] and still called themselves ''Rus.'' This was true until the empire fell in 1918.<ref>[[George Vernadsky|Vernadsky, George]]. ''A History of Russia'' (1943–69). Pp. xix, 413. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-00247-5.</ref>

In the 1880s through the first decade of the 20th century, the popularity of the [[ethnonym]] ''Ukrainian'' spread, and the term ''Ukraine'' became a substitute for ''Malaya Rus''' among the Ukrainian population of the empire. In the course of time, the term ''Rus'' became restricted to western parts of present-day Ukraine ([[Galicia (Central Europe)|Galicia]]/Halych, [[Carpathian Ruthenia]]), an area where Ukrainian nationalism competed with [[Russophiles of Galicia|Galician Russophilia]].{{sfn|Magocsi|1996|p=408-409,444|ps= :"Throughout 1848, the Austrian government gave its support to the Ukrainians, both to their efforts to obtain recognition as a nationality and to their attempts to achieve political and cultural rights. In return, the Ukrainian leadership turned a blind eye to the political reaction and repressive measures that at the same time were being carried out by Habsburg authorities against certain other peoples in the empire" (pp. 408–409) ... "Most important from the standpoint of the debate as to the proper national orientation was the Austrian government's decision in 1893 to recognize the vernacular Ukrainian (Rusyn) language as the standard for instructional purposes. As a result of this decision, the Old Ruthenian and Russophile orientations were effectively eliminated from the all-important educational system" (pp. 444)}} By the early 20th century, the term ''Ukraine'' had mostly replaced ''Malorussia'' in those lands, and by the mid-1920s in the Ukrainian diaspora in [[Northern America|North America]] as well.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

''Rusyn'' (the Ruthenian) has been an official self-identification of the Rus' population in Poland (and also in [[First Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovakia]]). Until 1939, for many Ruthenians and Poles, the word ''Ukrainiec'' (Ukrainian) meant a person involved in or friendly to a nationalist movement.<ref>Robert Potocki, Polityka państwa polskiego wobec zagadnienia ukraińskiego w latach 1930–1939, Lublin 2003, wyd. Instytut Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej, {{ISBN|83-917615-4-1}}, s. 45.</ref>

=== Modern Ruthenia ===
{{further|Rusyns}}

[[File:West-Ukraine 1918.jpg|thumb|200px| Map of the areas claimed and controlled by the Carpathian Ruthenia, the Lemko Republic and the West Ukrainian People's Republic in 1918]]
[[File:Subcarpathia - Carpatho-Ukraine.svg|lang=en|thumb|200px|Autonomous Subcarpathian Ruthenia and independent Carpatho-Ukraine 1938–1939.]]

After 1918, the name ''Ruthenia'' became narrowed to the area south of the [[Carpathian Mountains]] in the [[Kingdom of Hungary]], also called [[Carpathian Ruthenia]] ({{Langx|uk|карпатська Русь|translit=karpatska Rus}}, including the cities of [[Mukachevo]], [[Uzhhorod]], and [[Prešov]]) and populated by [[Ruthenians|Carpatho-Ruthenians]], a group of East Slavic highlanders. While Galician Ruthenians considered themselves Ukrainians, the Carpatho-Ruthenians were the last East Slavic people who kept the historical name (''Ruthen'' is a Latin form of the Slavic ''rusyn''). Today, the term ''[[Rusyns|Rusyn]]'' is used to describe the ethnicity and language of [[Ruthenians]], who are not compelled to adopt the [[Ukrainian nationalism|Ukrainian national identity]].

[[Carpathian Ruthenia]] ({{langx|hu|Kárpátalja}}, {{langx|uk|Закарпаття|translit=Zakarpattia}}) became [[Kingdom of Hungary|part of the newly founded Hungarian Kingdom]] in 1000. In May 1919, it was incorporated with nominal autonomy into [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovakia]] as ''Subcarpathian Rus'''. Since then, Ruthenian people have been divided into three orientations: [[Ukrainian Russophiles|Russophiles]], who saw Ruthenians as part of the Russian nation; [[Ukrainophilia|Ukrainophiles]], who like their Galician counterparts across the Carpathian Mountains considered Ruthenians part of the Ukrainian nation; and Ruthenophiles, who claimed that Carpatho-Ruthenians were a separate nation and who wanted to develop a native [[Rusyn language]] and culture.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gabor|first=Madame|date=Autumn 1938|title=Ruthenia|journal=The Ashridge Journal|volume=35|pages=27–39}}</ref>{{Verify source|date=April 2018}}

In 1938, under the Nazi regime in Germany, there were calls in the German press for the independence of a greater Ukraine, which would include Ruthenia, parts of Hungary, the Polish Southeast including Lviv, the Crimea, and Ukraine, including Kyiv and Kharkiv. (These calls were described in the French and Spanish press as "troublemaking".)<ref>{{cite news |title=ALEMANIA ESTA CREANDO UN NUEVOFOCO DE PERTURBACIONES EN UCRAINA|url=http://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.com/preview/1934/06/15/pagina-7/33123533/pdf.html?search=Járkov|last=Fabra|work=[[La Vanguardia]]|page=7|language=es|date=18 December 1938|access-date=1 April 2022|quote=«Le Figaro» [...] la creación de una Ucraina independiente [...] un mapa de los territorios de raza ucrainiana en que se incluye a la Rutenia, una parte de Hungría, el sureste de Polonia con la ciudad de Lwow, y toda la Ucraina soviética, con Crimea y las ciudades de Kiev y Jarkov}}</ref>

On 15 March 1939, the Ukrainophile president of Carpatho-Ruthenia, [[Avhustyn Voloshyn]], declared its independence as [[Carpatho-Ukraine]]. On the same day, regular troops of the Royal Hungarian Army occupied and annexed the region. In 1944 the [[Soviet Army]] occupied the [[Carpathian Ruthenia during World War II|territory]], and in 1945 it was annexed to the [[Ukrainian SSR]]. Rusyns were not an officially recognized ethnic group in the [[USSR]], as the Soviet government considered them to be Ukrainian.

A Rusyn minority remained, after World War II, in eastern [[Czechoslovakia]] (now [[Slovakia]]). According to critics, the Ruthenians rapidly became [[Slovakization|Slovakized]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.carpatho-rusyn.org/crs/homefund.htm|title=The Rusyn Homeland Fund|publisher=carpatho-rusyn.org|date=1998|access-date=13 February 2017}}</ref> In 1995 the Ruthenian written language became standardized.<ref>Paul Robert Magocsi: ''A new Slavic language is born'', in: Revue des études slaves, Tome 67, fascicule 1, 1995, pp. 238–240.</ref>

Following [[Modern history of Ukraine#Independent Ukraine (1991 to present)|Ukrainian independence and dissolution of the Soviet Union]] (1990–91), the official position of the government and some Ukrainian politicians has been that the Rusyns are an integral part of the Ukrainian nation. Some of the population of [[Zakarpattia Oblast]] of Ukraine have identified as Rusyn (or Boyko, Hutsul, Lemko etc.) first and foremost; a subset of this second group has, nevertheless, considered Rusyns to be part of a broader Ukrainian national identity.