As native speaker of Russian language, large part of my Russian identity was the fact, that I was raised in household of WW2 veteran(I was born and lived in one of the ex-Soviet republics, not in Russia). I always viewed Russian army as liberators. In the light of current events, this part of me took a huge blow and I'm not sure, I will ever reconcile. Russian army that is in Ukraine are bunch of untrained, uncoordinated thugs that have zero regards to human life and lead by war criminals. I have nothing but contempt for Russian Army. What up with the new "Z" Swastika ?
Hi, I’m Russian. Ukraine and Russia is a story of a divorce
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Re: Hi, I’m Russian. Ukraine and Russia is a story of a divorce
#12not really in favor of this characterizing countries thing. it’s like how China calls Hongkong it’s child and it finally was returned to its mother in 1997. Nowadays same terminology is applied to Taiwan, I’m just disgusted by this figure of speech, saying China is a mother and hongkong and Taiwan are her children just signals that you don’t want to treat them with respect in the first place. Same thing with this sto…
Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union. They spoke Russian. They married Russians. It happened. But it's a history now. No one can force-continue the marriage.
You mean Ukraine was a part of Rus and Russian empires going back 1000 years. It goes way beyond the Soviet Union...
Re: Hi, I’m Russian. Ukraine and Russia is a story of a divorce
#13I am Ukrainian. Ukraine an Russia is a story of crazy imperial neighbor invading my country and killing my people.
Re: Hi, I’m Russian. Ukraine and Russia is a story of a divorce
#14No post body was provided.
Re: Hi, I’m Russian. Ukraine and Russia is a story of a divorce
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union. They spoke Russian. They married Russians. It happened. But it's a history now. No one can force-continue the marriage.
You mean Ukraine was a part of Rus and Russian empires going back 1000 years. It goes way beyond the Soviet Union...
Yes there are ethnic ties between them. That doesn't mean they are identical, or that one should rule the other. Should Scotland rule Ireland (or vice versa) because they are both Gaelic peoples that were part of the British Empire?
Re: Hi, I’m Russian. Ukraine and Russia is a story of a divorce
#16I feel that the Russian identity has been dealt a fatal blow. The load-bearing pillar of the Russian identity is the idea that we are a nation of defenders, who fought off the biggest invasion in history. We defend, not intrude. If you remember history, there was another guy who attacked a slavic country, in the morning, without declaring war, hoping for a blitzkrieg. We are that guy now. I thought about renouncing m…
Even this is not really accurate. World War II started when the Germans invaded Poland, but the Russians also invaded Poland.
In many ways this war seems to be Putin‘s attempt at bringing back spheres of influence and a greater Russian empire. That’s not exactly a new experience in Russian history. Russians will even point at napoleons invasion of Russia, and happily forget about all of the war of the coalitions that they were an part of before then.
This ignorance of history isn’t a bug in Putins world view - Its a feature. It’s a lot easier to tell the story of napoleon without Austerlitz, and Hitler without Poland, Finland and the Holodomor.
Russia is far from alone in this - but unlike others Putin seems to be committed to bringing back the existential wars of the 20th century….
Re: Hi, I’m Russian. Ukraine and Russia is a story of a divorce
#17I am Ukrainian. Ukraine an Russia is a story of crazy imperial neighbor invading my country and killing my people.
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Re: Hi, I’m Russian. Ukraine and Russia is a story of a divorce
#18I was thinking about writing something exactly from this perspective today. Based on what Putin said about Ukraine, how it use to be part of Russia. The fact that Ukraine has declared their independence from Russia is exactly like an abusive husband that won't let go of the relationship and he is willing to put everyone in jeopardy to get his selfish desire of grandiosity met. Everyone one around him sees that its ov…
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Re: Hi, I’m Russian. Ukraine and Russia is a story of a divorce
#19I feel that the Russian identity has been dealt a fatal blow. The load-bearing pillar of the Russian identity is the idea that we are a nation of defenders, who fought off the biggest invasion in history. We defend, not intrude. If you remember history, there was another guy who attacked a slavic country, in the morning, without declaring war, hoping for a blitzkrieg. We are that guy now. I thought about renouncing m…
> the Russian contribution to human civilization
> By renouncing my nationality I would also renounce Lomonosov, Dostoyevsky, etc.
No you wouldn't. Culture transcends flags and borders, but you're putting the nation ahead of it. You can still appreciate your Russian culture without having to buy wholesale the whole Russian (or any other) nationality. The Russian people have created beautiful things like everybody else on Earth has done. There is nothing unique about its uniqueness. You can appreciate it without having to drape yourself in the Russian tricolour, what you call "identity".
Patriotism and sense of nation is, among other things, what causes people to invade and prove themselves better than their neighbours. Patriotism is just thinking your tribe is better than the others. It's an idea worth eschewing if we want to make our planet a better place.
Re: Hi, I’m Russian. Ukraine and Russia is a story of a divorce
#20not really in favor of this characterizing countries thing. it’s like how China calls Hongkong it’s child and it finally was returned to its mother in 1997. Nowadays same terminology is applied to Taiwan, I’m just disgusted by this figure of speech, saying China is a mother and hongkong and Taiwan are her children just signals that you don’t want to treat them with respect in the first place. Same thing with this sto…
Considering how mainland China (PRC) and Taiwan (ROC) are separated, they're more like siblings, with ROC being the elder one.