Putin: Russians, Ukrainians are 'one people'

Cliff:

Why don't they find a solution for normalized relationship and make a peace with neighbors?

Russia and Ukraine have always competed for Europe's attention.Ukraine saw Russia as a rival. After communism,the Ukrainian authorities failed to build a prosperous country and to somehow justify their failure incited nationalism,which clearly put Russia bad. In addition, America and England generously sponsor Russophobes, they will never allow Ukraine to be friends with Russia. Always where American money comes to there is a bright Russophobia and hatred of the Russians (Baltic States,Poland,Ukraine,Georgia).The Ukrainian government realized that it can make money on Russophobia and continued to incite hatred of Russia.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49061504

Ukrainians have spoke. Using Russian math, 88% prefer non-Russian govt. Putin is wrong.

close cousin would be more kindred

@lincolnman

The former Soviet satellite states clearly remember what it was like to live under the boot of Russian oppression

Yes, they remember it. In the USSR Ukraine, Georgia and three Baltic republics were the most well-off, Soviets poured in billions to build ports and modern industries. Now all these wretched countries are living on EU subsidies and IMF loans, most of their industries dead, population shrinking and living standards falling.

Then they see Putin Invading Georgia, then Ukraine, then Crimea

Nonsense. Russia did not invade Georgia (what for?), it just repulsed the Georgian attack on Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia. And please specify when or how Russia "invaded Ukraine" before Crimea? Nice to see you admit that Crimea is not Ukraine, by the way.

@cleo

My son speaks both Russian and Ukrainian, and he says they are definitely separate languages

Ukrainian language is a rather modern artificial construction, something like Esperanto. Ask your son to name even one book / text, written in Ukrainian before XIX century. There were different village dialects from which some intellectuals in mid-XIX began to construct "Ukrainian language", For the rest of educated people of the present day Ukraine the native language was Russian. Even now there is no standard Ukrainian. In Japan there is standard Japanese (Hyojungo). In Ukraine the situation differs, even on TV or media still a lot of discrepancies in spelling - pronunciation. Hyojungo differes a lot from Kansai-ben. Does it mean they are separate languages that belong to different peoples - Edokko and Kansaijin?

@theFu

My next door neighbors are ethnic Ukrainians. They HATE Russia

At the same time hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Ukrainians migrated lately to Russia where they take residence and Russian citizenship. The ease of the process demonstrates that they are one people.

Ask your Russia-hating neighbours what the original capital of Russia was

Instead of theFu's Ukrainian neighbors, why don't we ask Google?

Oh, look, there have been multiple historical capitals of Russia:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rbth.com/history/326278-6-russian-capitals/amp

The majority of Ukrainians don't want Russian control. They are voting today, so we'll learn much more tomorrow. Hopefully, the reformist will win, setup a like-minded coalition, and actually do some great things for the Ukrainian people that include taking steps to make it more democratic.

Perhaps Russia should consider a "Common Wealth" approach to it's former occupied States - just as England did ?

thefu:

They remember rule under the USSR and are doing everything they can to get their families out.

Everybody hated the "rule under the USSR", except the ruling elite. That is not different from any other communist regime, but it has nothing to do with Ukraine specificatlly. Ask your Russia-hating neighbours what the original capital of Russia was, and when "Ukraine" historically ever was an independent state. Crickets...

My next door neighbors are ethnic Ukrainians. They HATE Russia. We've discussed this since my family heritage includes some Russian periods in the 1800s. They remember rule under the USSR and are doing everything they can to get their families out.

They speak Russian, Ukranian and English and say that is fairly common from people of their economic status.

Their grandkids attend public schools, if that matters.

Ukrainian kids (I know several) have no problem understanding the teachers in the Russian school

Probably because so many Ukrainians are bilingual?

Most native Ukrainian speakers know Russian as a second language, and some 30% of Ukrainians claim Russian as their first language.

Norwegian and Danish are more closely related than Ukrainian and Russian. The history is also different: Denmark ruled Norway for some 400 years, leading to much greater integration between the languages.

cleo:

They are both East Slavic languages, so obviously related, but claiming one is a dialect of the other is like saying Icelandic is a dialect of English (or vice versa) because they're both Germanic languages.

That is a bit of an extreme example. Seeing that Ukrainian kids (I know several) have no problem understanding the teachers in the Russian school, I would rather ask if Norwegian (bokmal) and Danish are separate languages in your mind. Yes, sure, officially they are, but in fact you sometimes have to read several sentences in an article before you notice which of the two it is. Apart from the nationalistic pride, these are dialects of the same language.

From the Wikipedia,

In the Russian Empire the official view was that the Belarusian ("White Russian"), Ukrainian ("Little Russian"), and Russian ("Great Russian") languages were dialects of one common "Russian" language (the common languages of Eastern Slavic countries). Over the course of the 20th century, "Great Russian" came to be known as Russian proper, "Little Russian" as Ukrainian and "White Russian" as Belarusian.

The best thing is respect and peace with your neighbor. Ukrainian may be a Russian's cousin, but they have their own country now. Why don't they find a solution for normalized relationship and make a peace with neighbors?

Ukraianian is a Russian dialect

My son speaks both Russian and Ukrainian, and he says they are definitely separate languages.

They are both East Slavic languages, so obviously related, but claiming one is a dialect of the other is like saying Icelandic is a dialect of English (or vice versa) because they're both Germanic languages.

@riperez HAHA very funny... But its no joke, Pres Putin has warfare experts wondering about what he is planning past his plans for Ukraine. Thankfully other countries are stepping up and helping Ukraine arm themselves properly for conflict with Russia. But they still do not compare to what Russia has at the Ukraine border.

Vlad the Great being his usual mischievous self - but it won't work.

The former Soviet satellite states clearly remember what it was like to live under the boot of Russian oppression.

Then they see Putin Invading Georgia, then Ukraine, then Crimea.

The difference now is rather than a strong, experienced US President like an Eisenhower or a JFK, we have Putin's Poodle - a third-rate reality TV host whose Sec of State called a "f_____moron" and Sec of Defense said "had the understanding of a fifth or sixth grader."

Putin evidently feels emboldened with his asset in the White House...

@willib  (Ukraianian is a Russian dialect) 

Language experts don't share that Russian-centric perspective.

Ukrainian is an East Slavic language. It is the official state language of Ukraine and one of the three official languages in the unrecognized state of Transnistria,  the other two being Romanian and Russian. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic script (see Ukrainian alphabet).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_language

Utrack: to defend Russia from the US and NATO.

Why does Pres Putin have enough armaments at Ukraines border to takeover all of Western Europe.

Dear President Putin, Ukraine troops defending their border tell a different story on twitter. They see Ukraine as the frontline with Russian troops testing Ukraines border every night for weakness.

Halwick:

Most of the Ukrainians I've met hate the Russians. In fact they're insulted if you call them Russians.

Then try to ask them where they send their kids to school, if they live in Tokyo. The answer will be: The Russian school, which is financed by Russia, free, and available to Ukraians, who share the history, culture, and language (Ukraianian is a Russian dialect) wth Russia. Don´t mention hypocisy...

Fact is, the Ukraine is the original Russian heartland, much as the Neocon and Neolib warmongers who insist of fanning hate want to tell us otherwise.

"Putin's views are similar to the situation between China and Taiwan!

Also similar to Puerto Rica and the US, and Hawaii and the US, and Guam and the US, and Samoa and the US, and Marshal Islands and the US and ........and the US.

@kestrel Ukraine was on the side of nazi germany on WW2.

Ukraine was decimated by both Germany and the Soviet Union in WW2. And by the Soviet Union before WW2. And by the Soviet Union after WW2. Does anyone know if Oliver Stone asked Putin what his role was in the 1999 Moscow apartment bombings?

Ukraine was on the side of nazi germany on WW2.

Putin is lying - as usual. Look at the past thousand years of history. Each time Russia has tried to yoke in Ukraine, it has resisted, and each time Ukraine has had an opportunity to throw off that yoke, it has done so. My Mennonite ancestors spent about a century there after fleeing Holland from Napoleon, but when they sensed the Russian noose tightening, they all fled to North America.

Most of the Ukrainians I've met hate the Russians. In fact they're insulted if you call them Russians.

They consider Stone's "documentary" to be nothing but Pro-Putin Propaganda.

the countries should find a way to integrate.

Sort of like how Russia and the Japanese islands off Hokkaido integrated?

Oliver Stone's love affair with Putin seems really weird at times. Putin must have some serious dirt on Stone. No different than Dump's relationship with Putin.

Putin's views are similar to the situation between China and Taiwan!