GreenScape wrote:al wrote:The Ukraine is Russian and always was. Ukrainians are Russians and always were. Ukrainian and Russian are branches of the same language.
Similar differences in language and culture between subgroups of one ethnic group may be seen in other countries, like Germany or China. Chinese even have similar political fragmentation (ROC vs PRC).
hmm, but somehow Ukrainian Prince Yuri I Dovgorukiy was founder of of Moscow

Firstly, you misspelled his name. Secondly, he was Russian from Russian city of Kiev.
Term "Ukranian" is of Polish origin. There were no Ukranians or Ruthenians until Poland captured west part of Russia in Middle Ages. Those true Ukranians are from what is now Western Ukraine. After Russia finally reunited in XVIII people from most part of what is now Ukraine still did not know they were Ukranians, they identified themselves as Russians.
Nowaday Ukrainians are of invented ethnicity. At the beginning of XX communist revolutioneers pursuing their goals had used term "Ukranian" and "Ukraine" to make a separate Ukraine Republic. Then during WWII Nazi propaganda used this to spread the idea that Ukranians are not Russians, so they could raise pro-Reich nationalist groups there.
After 1991, Ukrainian governemnt began Ukrainization of Ukraine. They started to clear Ukrainian language of words which are similar to their Russian counterparts, changing them to words similar to Polish but which were never used before or just inventing new ones. They forced Ukranian language to be used as official (though Russian is still most used language, and even those "Ukranians are Ukranians, not Russians" kind politicians use Russian language in everyday life). They have corrected education program and history textbooks so new generation could learn that Ukranians are (allegedly) a separate ethnicity.
Last edited by al on Sat Jan 29, 2011 2:08 pm, edited 7 times in total.