Russian Nationalism Quotes
Historically Ukraine has been not only a part of Russia but a key part. The first Russian leader who unified the Russian nation and fought off the Mongols and Roman Catholic Western invaders came from the Ukraine. The origin of the Russian Orthodox Church was in the Ukraine. And the people of the Ukraine played a central and pivotal role in the Russian Revolution. And in World War II, despite a minoirty of Ukrainian nationalists who fought with the Nazis, the Ukraine bore much of the brunt of the German onslaught and the 22 million Russians who were killed, and yet fought so well that the Nazis were defeated. Many of the great Russian Heroes have been from the Ukraine. From the Russian point of view, Ukraine, was noi less a part of Russia than Florida, Iowa or Nebraska were to the United States.
When the former Soviet republics were in the Soviet Union, ethnic Russians were often against their will forced to the Republic so it can be Russified. These ethnic Russians had higher status with the Soviet government and the local people resented them for that and for trying to change their culture. With the breakup of the Soviet Union, many people took out their resentment on the ethnic Russians by various form of official and unofficial discrimination. For example, in 2014 when the Ukrainians revolted and ousted the pro-Russian President, the new legislature, as one of its first acts, banned the use of the Russian language on schools and in all official government forms and activities. Although the new President vetoed the ban and it never became law, the vast majority of the legislators would gladly discriminate against the ethnic Russians legally as well as socially and personally. The Russian government, decided to be the “protectors” of the ethnic Russians. This conveniently also gave them a “justification” of seizing and annexing the Crimea which had been part of Ukraine.
