Administrative-Territorial Division

Aggressors very often alter administrative boundaries within a captured region. In the course of implementing this technique, traditional systems of local governance are forcibly abolished, while the seized lands are fragmented and integrated into the colonizer's standard bureaucratic grid, which irreversibly destroys the historically formed social ties within the society. For example, many borders in Africa are the result of struggles between colonial powers[1]. The borders of the union and autonomous republics of the USSR were established by Moscow for administrative convenience and were changed in accordance with the decisions of the Moscow leadership[2].

ID: T0030
Sub-techniques:  No sub-techniques
Tactic: Persistence
People: Ukrainians
Version: 1.0
Created: 21 April 2026
Last Modified: 18 May 2026

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
C0009 "Eternal Peace" with Poland (1686)

The legal codification of the country's split into two parts, with the Right Bank turned into a buffer zone: "Under the terms of the Eternal Peace, the Right Bank remained with Poland... it was agreed and resolved that those places are to remain deserted, as they now are"[3][4].

C0031 Abolition of the Cossack Order in Sloboda Ukraine (1765)

Liquidation of Cossack administrative units and imposition of the imperial division: "By the Manifesto of 1765, Catherine II abolished the Cossack order... and created the Sloboda Ukraine Governorate"[5].

C0034 Administrative Dismantling and Enserfment of the Left Bank (1781–1786)

The final liquidation of the Hetmanate's autonomy, including the abolition of the Cossack regimental system and the partition of the Left Bank into three ordinary imperial viceroyalties (Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Novhorod-Siverskyi)[6].

C0073 Artificial Separatism and the Dismemberment of Territories (January – March 1918)

An attempt at the bureaucratic resubordination of territories — declaring the Donbas an autonomous part directly linked to Russia, bypassing any Ukrainian authorities[7].

C0038 Creation of the Little Russian Governorate-General (1801–1802)

Erasure of the historical boundaries of the seized territories and their unification through the imposition of an imperial system of control over the Left Bank by establishing the Little Russian Governorate-General[8].

S0008 Government

The legal codification of the territory's division. Moscow deliberately fragmented a once unified country, turning such important regions as Zaporizhzhia into rightless buffer zones under joint administration: "...Zaporizhzhia (which under the treaty of 1667 was under the joint rule of Moscow and Warsaw)"[3].

S0008 Government

The legal codification of the country's split into two parts, with the Right Bank turned into a buffer zone: "Under the terms of the Eternal Peace, the Right Bank remained with Poland... it was agreed and resolved that those places are to remain deserted, as they now are"[3][4].

S0008 Government

Preparation for the liquidation of the Hetmanate through the gubernia reform, into which Cossack towns were artificially inscribed. Moscow planned "to take the Little Russian towns into its own domain"[3][4].

S0008 Government

Abolition of the regiment-and-company administrative structure in favor of the imperial partition of lands: "as early as 1699 the Polish Sejm adopted a decision to liquidate the Cossack order on the Right Bank"[9].

S0008 Government

Liquidation of Cossack administrative units and imposition of the imperial division: "By the Manifesto of 1765, Catherine II abolished the Cossack order... and created the Sloboda Ukraine Governorate"[5].

S0008 Government

The final liquidation of the Hetmanate's autonomy, including the abolition of the Cossack regimental system and the partition of the Left Bank into three ordinary imperial viceroyalties (Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Novhorod-Siverskyi)[6].

S0008 Government

Erasure of the historical boundaries of the seized territories and their unification through the imposition of an imperial system of control over the Left Bank by establishing the Little Russian Governorate-General[8].

S0008 Government

An attempt at the bureaucratic resubordination of territories — declaring the Donbas an autonomous part directly linked to Russia, bypassing any Ukrainian authorities[7].

S0008 Government

Internal redrawing of administrative borders within the USSR: the formal transfer of Crimea from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR in order to "relieve the RSFSR of the economic burden of rebuilding the peninsula" after World War II and the deportation of the Indigenous population[10][11].

C0011 Integration Reforms of Peter I and the Great Northern War (1700–1708)

Preparation for the liquidation of the Hetmanate through the gubernia reform, into which Cossack towns were artificially inscribed. Moscow planned "to take the Little Russian towns into its own domain"[3][4].

C0026 Liquidation of the Cossacks in Right-Bank Ukraine (1699)

Abolition of the regiment-and-company administrative structure in favor of the imperial partition of lands: "as early as 1699 the Polish Sejm adopted a decision to liquidate the Cossack order on the Right Bank"[9].

G0009 Russian Empire

Liquidation of Cossack administrative units and imposition of the imperial division: "By the Manifesto of 1765, Catherine II abolished the Cossack order... and created the Sloboda Ukraine Governorate"[5].

G0009 Russian Empire

The final liquidation of the Hetmanate's autonomy, including the abolition of the Cossack regimental system and the partition of the Left Bank into three ordinary imperial viceroyalties (Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Novhorod-Siverskyi)[6].

G0009 Russian Empire

Erasure of the historical boundaries of the seized territories and their unification through the imposition of an imperial system of control over the Left Bank by establishing the Little Russian Governorate-General[8].

G0013 Soviet Russia (RSFSR)

An attempt at the bureaucratic resubordination of territories — declaring the Donbas an autonomous part directly linked to Russia, bypassing any Ukrainian authorities[7].

C0087 The Ideological Campaign of the "300th Anniversary of Reunification" and the Transfer of Crimea (1954)

Internal redrawing of administrative borders within the USSR: the formal transfer of Crimea from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR in order to "relieve the RSFSR of the economic burden of rebuilding the peninsula" after World War II and the deportation of the Indigenous population[10][11].

C0005 Truce of Andrusovo (1667)

The legal codification of the territory's division. Moscow deliberately fragmented a once unified country, turning such important regions as Zaporizhzhia into rightless buffer zones under joint administration: "...Zaporizhzhia (which under the treaty of 1667 was under the joint rule of Moscow and Warsaw)"[3].

G0008 Tsardom of Muscovy

The legal codification of the territory's division. Moscow deliberately fragmented a once unified country, turning such important regions as Zaporizhzhia into rightless buffer zones under joint administration: "...Zaporizhzhia (which under the treaty of 1667 was under the joint rule of Moscow and Warsaw)"[3].

G0008 Tsardom of Muscovy

The legal codification of the country's split into two parts, with the Right Bank turned into a buffer zone: "Under the terms of the Eternal Peace, the Right Bank remained with Poland... it was agreed and resolved that those places are to remain deserted, as they now are"[3][4].

G0008 Tsardom of Muscovy

Preparation for the liquidation of the Hetmanate through the gubernia reform, into which Cossack towns were artificially inscribed. Moscow planned "to take the Little Russian towns into its own domain"[3][4].

G0008 Tsardom of Muscovy

Abolition of the regiment-and-company administrative structure in favor of the imperial partition of lands: "as early as 1699 the Polish Sejm adopted a decision to liquidate the Cossack order on the Right Bank"[9].

G0010 USSR

Internal redrawing of administrative borders within the USSR: the formal transfer of Crimea from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR in order to "relieve the RSFSR of the economic burden of rebuilding the peninsula" after World War II and the deportation of the Indigenous population[10][11].

References