SEPARATIST SENTIMENTS AS A GLOBAL TREND OF OUR TIME AND THE MAIN THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY DURING RUSSIA’S MILITARY INVASION OF UKRAINE

Abstract

The article analyzes separatism, which at the present stage of development of the world community is becoming one of the main threats to the stability of the system of international relations and generates numerous active and "frozen" conflicts, as well as creates tension in many regions of the world, in particular, on the territory of the former USSR. The circumstances that contributed to this were the result of a rather long-term action of external and internal factors aimed at creating obstacles to the formation of a single humanitarian space of Ukraine, the development of national Ukrainian culture, the expansion of the functioning of the state language, the final break with the Soviet past. The purpose of this article is to analyze the structure of threats and trends in the development of separatist movements in the world, Europe and Ukraine and their impact on the national security of the state. It has been proven that terrorism in modern Ukraine is defined as terrorist separatism because of its purpose, features and duration in time. The reasons and features of terrorist separatism in Ukraine are clarified. The peculiarities of the use of powerful information technologies, in particular, the technologies of information warfare as one of the features of terrorist separatism, are emphasized. The role of Russian propaganda in the growth of separatist moods in Ukraine is outlined. Among the negative consequences of separatism in Ukraine, the following are mentioned: violation of the functioning mechanism of the political system, the fall in the legitimacy of the central government, and the crisis of national politics. Separatism, creating a threat to state sovereignty, undermines territorial integrity, violates the principles of geopolitical security of the state, reduces its international prestige, etc.