A long history of Russia's efforts to conquer Ukraine

Since independence in 1991, Ukraine has made many hard-earned profits and lost at least one little thing. I tried to do it.

Correspondent Mo Rocca said, "When I was growing up, I called it" Ukraine. " Why did that change?

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Anapple Baum has written extensively on Russia and Ukraine, "Ukraine, its use ofreflects the facts." I think people didn't really understand what Ukraine was, and especially for the last 30 years Ukrainians have put a lot of effort into getting English speakers to stop it. 17}

"Ukraine. It's a country. It's in its own state now. It's not" Ukraine "more than" Russia "," Germany "," France ".

According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine said last week that Ukraine tried to justify the invasion of Russia's neighbors, "Ukraine has not built a stable state." , "It is an essential part of our own history, culture, and spiritual space."

Russia and the country it often calls "brother" insist on a common parent-child relationship. You can ... How, long ago.

"In the late Middle Ages, Kyiv-based Kievan Ruth said that" both Russia and Ukraine trace their origins to their provinces. "

The civilization is said to have been founded by the Vikings in the 9th century. Of course, many things have happened centuries ago, and since then, "Applebaum said. French sts. And that is a long time ago.

"Yes, if the Vikings claim French ownership today, that would be a kind of suspicious claim," Rocka asked.

"Yes .. That is, Russians claiming control of Ukraine is as suspicious as the Vikings claiming control of Ukraine, or actually France or Britain.

Fast-forwarding in 1793, mostly Applebaum said, "Ukraine today has become part of the Russian Empire under King Catherine." Ukraine was once in Britain. It was a bit like Ukraine was there. " Empire.

During the revolution that preceded the Soviet Union, Ukraine fought for independence. It was defeated and was subsumed into a communist state in 1922. "But it was a different entity from the beginning," he said. Apple baum. "It always had its own language. It always had its own position within the Soviet Union."

But within 10 years, the Soviet leadership feared the independence-oriented Ukraine. The one, Joseph Stalin, lowered the hammer. Give it to the peasants and the state. And very quickly, in Ukraine there was very strong opposition to it.

Stalin did not shatter the opposition. The atrocities that began in 1932 became known asHolodomor. "Extinction from hunger" "Holodomor was an artificial hunger, which means that it was not a crop failure, but a hunger caused by insects and drought. It was a famine caused by the Soviet nation. It was. Local activists went from house to house in the Ukrainian countryside and confiscated food. The idea was to take all the last scraps of food. Of course, that means people die. They knew that, and they expected it to happen. "

Between 1932 and 1933, about 4 million Ukrainians

In the 1984 documentary"The Harvest of Despair,"journalist Vasilsokir recalled fear. It was a very serious crime. This was a government order to punish anyone, even if they were sentenced to death.

Applebaum said, "People are frogs." , Toad, survived eating mice. They ate the bark of the tree. "

Rocka said," Is it true that some people have resorted to co-eating? "

"Yes. It was actually recorded by the authorities at the time, and of course it means that in Moscow, people knew that there was a toad in Ukraine."

The second wave of Stalinist horror included the arrest and killing of Ukrainian intellectuals, artists, and even dictionary writers.

"Andit is correct that they removed the letter from the Ukrainian alphabet," Rocca asked.

"Yes. They changed the way the language was written to make it more like Russian."

"As you know, you have so many horrifying details. I mentioned. The details are so embarrassing to me that I take the language anderases the letter. "

" Ukrainian and its feeling, another identity It has been really a Russian policy since the 19th century, an attempt to eliminate the sensation, "Applebaum said. Later it was Stalin's policy, and now it is Putin's policy.

"Putin believes that Ukraine, an independent sovereign democracy, is a threat to himself and his personal power. One of Putin's real fears is the grassroots. It is a democratic movement and the most important way he can promote it. The opposition to them is to eliminate the Ukrainian state. "

" Today, many Ukrainians say,'Never again. I don't think. "Rocca asked.

There is a famous poem by Ukrainian national poet Shevchenko called "Calamity Again". And it starts with this very idea. When we started to get along, the calamity struck again. The democracy has solidified and the national consciousness has become stronger and stronger. And now this disaster has fallen upon them, and this feeling that they may have fallen upon them. Being drawn into the horrifying nightmares of the Stalin and Tsar era must have afflicted many of them.

     
More information:

• anneapplebaum.com
• "Red Famine: Stalin's Waron Ukraine" , Anne Applebaum (Anchor), Trade Paperbacks, Ebooks, Audio Formats, Amazon and Indie Bound
• Photo: Alexander Wienerberger (© Samara Pearce)
• Ukraine (Official Government Website)

    
A story created by Robert Marston. Editor: Steven Tyler. 

     
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