On 31 October 2025, the Institute for East European History at the University of Vienna will host the academic conference “Occupied Ukraine: Russian Policy in the Territories under Russian Control”, organized by the Austrian-Ukrainian Historical Commission with the support of the Institute and Ukraine Office Austria. The event focuses on Russia’s occupation policies in Ukraine, examining their military, social, linguistic, religious, and legal dimensions.

The programme consists of two thematic panels:

Panel I — Military, Social and Linguistic Dimensions of Russian Occupation

• Markus Reisner (Theresian Military Academy) — Russian military occupation strategies and mechanisms of control.

• Hanna Skoreiko (Yuriy Fedkovych National University of Chernivtsi) — civilian experiences under occupation: survival, collaboration, and resistance.

• Michael Moser (University of Vienna) — Russian language policy as a tool of coercion and assimilation.

Panel II — Religious Policy and Accountability for War Crimes

• Oleh Turij (Ukrainian Catholic University) — religious policy in the occupied territories.

• Borys Petrunyok — war crimes as a long-term strategic instrument of Russia.

• Yonah Diamond — international accountability mechanisms for crimes committed in Ukraine.

The conference is held with the kind support of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, and the Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies of the University of Vienna.