Day 298+, Russians & Ukraine - One Person's Opinion - Letter # 20

December 19, 2022, Letter 20

Dear Friends,

In the last letter, #19, I wrote about Jewish – Ukrainian relations and the rather positive changes in these relations that have come about in recent history, especially since the fall of the Soviet Union. So, now, what about the Russo-Ukrainian relations.

Certainly, Russo-Ukrainian relations have declined since 2013-2014 and plummeted over the last ten months. It has gotten to the point that speaking Russian has become "shameful," even for ethnic Russians, who, by the way, do not have the same origins as ethnic Ukrainians. Even in cities like Kharkiv and Odesa, Russian-speaking cities before February 24, the language is, understandably, becoming extinct. It is clear that for the Russian language to regain its previous standing in Ukrainian society, one will have to wait many generations.

As in the last letter, I want to find a point in history, a reasonable cutoff for this conversation, to keep it manageable I'd like to use WWI and the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution as that cutoff. I, of course, recognize all prior history and view this situation with unbiased neutrality.

The revolution of 1917 brought an end to the Russian Empire, replacing it with the Soviet Union. Germany’s landscape changed drastically, and the Austro-Hungarian empire was no more. From 1917 to 1921, Ukraine suffered a complex civil war of many belligerent factions, including foreign nations. By 1922, Ukrainian borders looked very similar to those of today, minus Western Ukraine, A.K.A. Galicia, and the land to the West of the Carpathian Mountains, A.K.A. Zakarpatia. These lands joined Ukraine in 1939 (at the start of WWII) and in 1946 respectively. Later, in 1954, Nikita Kruschev, Soviet Premier and an ethnic Ukrainian, "gifted" Crimea to Ukrainian SSR. In 1991 no one challenged newly Independent Ukrainian territories. In 1994, Budapest Memorandum was signed by the U.S.A, U.K, Russia, and Ukraine. Again, all signatories to the accords accepted Ukrainian territory as it was at that time. In fact, not only did they accept the territory, they also promised to defend it in exchange for Ukraine giving up its nuclear arsenal, the third-largest in the world at the time.

During the time of the Russian empire, there were certainly many ethnic Russians living on the Ukrainian territory. Still, that number remained relatively steady at under 10% of the population. During the U.S.S.R days, the percentage of Russians increased significantly, peaking in the late 1980s. As with minorities in any country, the density of ethnic Russians varied from region to region. While some regions had as little as 3% of a Russian population, others, like Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea, had 38%, 39%, and 58%, respectively. The waves of Russification, Ukrainization and other social experiments the USSR was famous for were the primary reasons for changes in Ukrainian demographics.

However, the ethnic composition of Ukraine does not directly correlate to the people's primary language.

At the downfall of the Soviet Union, almost all Ukrainians knew Russian, and some 50%-70% spoke Russian as their primary language. By 2001, the official statistics were 29%, but footnotes often say that number is higher. When my family and I last visited Ukraine in 2016, we heard Ukrainian and Russian languages in equal proportions. Although not a scientific survey, our observations do represent what most people we know would agree with. Before leaving for Ukraine, we believed that speaking Russian was not welcomed in Ukraine. We even tried to speak Russian as little as possible, but our efforts were short-lived. From Boryspil, Kyiv’s main airport, our cab driver barely spoke Ukrainian and did not speak English. Knowing Russian was very helpful. Names of stores and businesses were about evenly split between Ukrainian and Russian. Still, official signs and street names were in Ukrainian. Kyiv is a good representation of the real Ukraine; Whatever Kyiv does, so does the rest of Ukraine. However, there are outliers. In the west, L’viv, the city of my youth, has the third lowest percentage of Russian people, around 3%. So again, my family, again, made a pact not to speak Russian there. After all, there may have been some truth to Russian propaganda. Our first day in L'viv confirmed that fewer people spoke Russian, but almost all understood it and did not shy away from speaking it with us. Our conversations with locals were similar to the Ukrainian TV shows, News, and other public discussions. One host may speak Ukrainian to another host or guest who will respond in Russian. People didn’t care about the language on TV or on the streets, because they understood both.

Certainly, the situation since February 24th has turned the tide on the neutrality of the Russian language. An ever-increasing number of Russian speakers are turning away from their native language and embracing the language of their National Identity.

Several months ago, I distributed a letter from Maxim, a friend of mine and the founder of Just People. This exclusively volunteer organization feeds tens of thousands in the Kharkiv area. Ethnically he is Russian and speaks, or spoke, only Russian. He admittedly doesn't speak Ukrainian well enough to disguise his ethnic background. Now that Maxim knows that his organization is in good hands and the people of Kharkiv are taken care of, he has volunteered to serve on the front lines to defend his country against its existential enemy: RuZZia.

One of my letters was dedicated to Aleksandra Bolotina and her family, one of our family's closest friends, a professional photographer, and a volunteer for Just People and other humanitarian causes. Her son was studying in Moscow on February 24. Her knowledge of Ukrainian is similar to Maxim's, with her parents only speaking Russian. She is very active on Facebook, and her postings in Russian used to solicit Russian and English comments from her friends. As the war continued, however, comments written in Russian started being replaced by comments written strictly in Ukrainian.

If you participated in the tour of Kyiv, you have met my friend Katya. Her Russian father did not speak Ukrainian until recently, and her Ukrainian mother does everything she can to instruct him in the language. Katya's business website is in English, and even the domain name uses the Russian spelling for Kyiv ("Kiev").

So why are all of these people I've mentioned relevant to this discussion? Because they are all proud Ukrainians who want no part of the RuZZian Federation. They all actively help the military by offering food, clothing, shelter, and any other forms of comfort. They all find the RuZZian war inexcusable and, more importantly, unforgivable. There is a beautiful song 'Mi nikoli ne budim bratyami," which translates to "we will never be brothers."

The song is available on YouTube in Ukrainian and Russian. Please listen to it and play with the YouTube settings to turn on the subtitles so you can read the English translation of the words. The song speaks for itself and foretells the Russian – Ukrainian future for generations to come.

Growing up in the Western Ukrainian part of the U.S.S.R, I thought I was an average Soviet citizen.

I thought all Soviet people had a negative view of life in the U.S.S.R due to their deep-rooted distrust of the government. I thought that a desire for personal betterment and a hunger for the individual, social, religious, and economic freedoms denied in the Soviet Union was a universal feeling.

Once I arrived in the U.S, though, I realized that my feelings were not typical of the Soviet person. They were not even typical of a Soviet emigrant. I found that most just wanted a better life materially and to simply not to experience antisemitism. I found that most appreciated many aspects of Soviet life; for one thing, its education system was worshipped across the board. Some also praised the U.S.S.R's arts, culture, sports, and literature. Disturbingly, many admired the Union's sacrifice of basic individual rights and liberties for communal benefits, order and social equality. Many also appreciated their government and found corruption acceptable and normal. According to most polls, 70% of Russians still feel this way.

I just finished an Audible version of Luke Harding's recently released book, Invasion, about the current war in Europe. Please consider reading or listening to this book for a balanced and well-written summary of all of the current events and other relevant historical facts I've brought up to this point.

For years the words "Russians" and "Soviets" have been used interchangeably. These words have been universally accepted as synonyms, but I think the events of the last ten months have demonstrated just how wrong we have all been in accepting that misguided synonymy and that the difference between being Russian and Soviet is much more then just a matter of syntax.

Sam Rozenberg.

Glory to Ukraine!