Inna Berezkina

The 20th century established a moral project of confronting mass violence and systemic injustice through processes of remembrance, justice, and coming to terms with the past under the concept of Vergangenheitsbewältigung. Today, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine highlights a persistent age of impunity, in which victorious nations invoke moral superiority to shield themselves from accountability. While traditional post-conflict justice relies on regime change or the end of war, conditions typically absent for major powers, this project explores accountability not solely through legal means but as an internal, societal reckoning that persists when external judgment is unavailable. It examines how unresolved violence, such as Russia’s glorification of wartime atrocities, fuels societal divisions and undermines national cohesion. The goal is to reconceptualize transitional justice as a long-term, democratizing, and educational process, learning from other societies to shape social and political reform—especially in contexts lacking immediate democratic transition.