Unyielding Resolve Captive Nations and the Path to Freedom

Dr. Lev E. Dobriansky provides a unique, first-person perspective on Russian imperialist behavior in the twentieth century, arguing that even in the Soviet era, Russian statecraft was heavily shaped by traditional imperialist ideology—led by Moscow’s self-image as the dominant Eurasian imperial power. This theory was at the heart of Dobriansky’s commitment to warning against global Soviet aggression and liberating peoples under Russian repression, culminating in the Captive Nations Resolution (PL 86-90), the US law designating Captive Nations Week and the issuance of a presidential proclamation every July. This resolution played a major role in shaping US policies toward victims of Russian imperial domination and today continues as an acknowledgment of people and nations living under repressive regimes. The collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent developments, including Russia's 2014 and 2022 unprovoked invasions of independent Ukraine, have validated the author's view that Russian imperialism was the major determinant of its statecraft. The book is the first to document the history of Captive Nations and the passage of PL 86-90. It is a potent first-person account detailing the role of nationalism in the strong resistance to Moscow's efforts to maintain imperial domination over non-Russian peoples, in the Soviet era and beyond.

Dr. Lev E. Dobriansky (1918–2008), an economics professor at Georgetown University for thirty-five years and Truman-Reagan Medal awardee, penned the Captive Nations Week and Shevchenko Monument resolutions and cofounded the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

Pratik Chougule is a visiting fellow at the Fund for American Studies. He served under George W. Bush in the Office of the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security.

Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky, a former under secretary of state for global affairs, is vice chair of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

David B. Rivkin Jr. served in several legal and policy positions in the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations, focusing on defense, foreign policy, and Soviet affairs.

Foreword
David B. Rivkin

Preface
Paula J. Dobriansky

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1: Captive Nations, Then and Now

2: The First Plateau, Public Law 86-90: Stemming the Tide

3: Puncturing Moscow’s Central Nerve

4: A Second Plateau: The Reagan Revolution—US Strikes Back

5: Support for Freedom Fighters in the Soviet Empire

6: Non-Russian Revolutions

7: The Semantics of Liberation

8: Human Rights and the Faith Community

9: Captive Nations—Who’s Next?

10: The Novelist and the Poet

11: Countering Russian Propaganda: A Crucial American Public Diplomacy Mission

12: Beyond Containment

13: Cold War Victory and the Collapse of the Soviet Union

14: The Third Plateau: Remaining Captive Nations

Epilogue
David B. Rivkin

Postscript
Pratik Chougule

Appendix A: Captive Nations Week: Public Law 86-90; 73 STAT. 212

Appendix B: Captive Nations List 1980

About the Author and Contributors

Index

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