{"id":144463,"date":"2021-07-02T19:44:37","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T16:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/?p=144463"},"modified":"2021-07-02T19:44:43","modified_gmt":"2021-07-02T16:44:43","slug":"ukrainians-russians-not-one-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/ukrainians-russians-not-one-people","title":{"rendered":"Why Ukrainians and Russians are not one people, and why Russians are not Ukraine\u2019s indigenous people"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lately, Russian\nPresident Putin has mentioned Ukraine frequently. He recently said that\nUkrainians and Russians are one people, and expressed indignation over a fresh\nlaw on the indigenous peoples of Ukraine, initially introduced to the\nParliament by the President. President Zelenskyi and Ukraine\u2019s Foreign Ministry\nresponded sharply. Here is what\u2019s key in this exchange of words between Ukraine\nand Russia. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\ndid Putin say about being \u201cone people\u201d? <\/strong>Speaking at the\ntelevised call-in show \u201cDirect Line\u201d, Putin said Ukrainians and Russians are\none people. Ukraine is not an unfriendly state, he added. Ukrainians and\nRussians were divided by external forces, Putin said. He also said his\nanalytical article on the history of Russia and Ukraine will soon be out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukraine, like Russia, is full of \u201cnarrow-minded\npeople\u201d that \u201care ruining the country\u201d particularly by pressuring the\nopposition, Putin said. He brought an example of his crony Viktor Medvedchuk, a\npro-Russian politician who is \u201cunjustly persecuted\u201d, Putin labelled him as\n\u201cUkraine nationalist\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zelenskyi\nanswers Putin on Ukrainians, Russians being \u201cone people\u201d. <\/strong>Zelenskyi\nwas quick to respond to Putin\u2019s statement. He said that Ukrainians and Russians\nare not one people. Even if they were one, the flag that flies above the State\nDuma in Moscow would be yellow-and-blue, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet\u2019s finally sort thigs out. Clearly, we are not\none people. We have much in common. We share part of history and memory, we are\nneighbors, we have mixed families, we share the victory over fascism as well as\ntragedies. But, I repeat, we are not one people. If we were one people, in\nMoscow, the currency in circulation would most likely be hryvnia, and the flag\nthat flies above the State Duma would be yellow-and-blue. We are definitely not\na single people. Each one of us has their own way forward,\u201d Zelenskyi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukrainians and Russians need to share the goal of\nending the war in Donbas and restoring Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty over its\nterritories, the Ukrainian President said. \u201cAlso, that\u2019s not possible to say\nthat we are \u2018one people\u2019 while seizing our territories and proceeding with the\nslaughter in Donbas at the same time. That\u2019s obvious,\u201d Zelenskyi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putin\u2019s statements on Ukraine\u2019s \u201cexternal\ngovernance\u201d are a \u201cpurely propagandist mantra\u201d crafted for domestic use in\nRussia, Zelenskyi noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the real world, all issues concerning Ukraine\nare decided upon by the Ukrainian government in Ukraine. Those decisions are\ndefinitely not made in a neighboring country, or by the \u2018shadow mediators\u2019 that\nare under house arrest or on the wanted list,\u201d the President said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recent U.S.-Russia summit has demonstrated that \u201ceven\nthe direct talks\u201d between the U.S. and Russian leaders have no authority to\ndecide upon the Ukraine questions, Zelenskyi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe say: \u2018nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine\u2019.\nThat\u2019s how our state works. Developments on the global political arena only\nprove that. What\u2019s more, on July 12, I will have an in-person meeting with the\nGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel. My direct talks with the U.S. President Joe\nBiden are scheduled for late July,\u201d Zelenskyi said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukraine\u2019s\nMinistry of Foreign Affairs fights back.<\/strong> Russian President\nVladimir Putin holds responsibility for the abyss between Ukrainians and\nRussians, Ukraine\u2019s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said responding to Putin\u2019s\nwords on the two nations \u201cbeing one people\u201d. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUkrainians and Russians are two separate nations.\nWe could live as good neighbors had Russia not attacked Ukraine in 2014,\nkilling thousands of people, occupying our lands. Full responsibility for the\nabyss between our nations lies with Putin who launched the aggression,\u201d Dmytro\nKuleba twitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why\nPutin is irritated at the bill on Ukraine\u2019s indigenous peoples <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 18, 2021, the Day of Remembrance of Victims\nof the Deportation of the Crimean Tatar People, President Zelenskyi introduced\nthe draft law on indigenous peoples to the Parliament. The bill does not say a\nword about Russians. On July 1, the Parliament passed the bill. At the time of\nthis writing, the President has not yet signed it into law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill defines Crimean Tatars, Karaites, and\nKrymchaks as the indigenous peoples of Ukraine. By legal definition they are\n\u201can indigenous ethnic community native to the territory of Ukraine, they have\ntheir unique language and culture, traditional, social, cultural, or\nrepresentation bodies, they self-identify as an indigenous people of Ukraine,\u201d\nand they do not have a state of their own outside Ukraine. The law is also to\nfoster \u201cthe consolidation and development of the Ukrainian nation, as well as\nthe development of ethnic, cultural, language, and religious uniqueness of all\nthe indigenous peoples of Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putin\u2019s\nreaction: \u201ca hit on the Russian people\u201d.<\/strong> Putin\u2019s reaction to\nthe bill was unexpectedly strong. In early June, he called the draft law on\nUkraine\u2019s indigenous peoples \u201ca strong and serious hit on the Russian people\noverall.\u201d To speak of Russians as a non-indigenous people of Ukraine is \u201cnot\njust incorrect, but also ridiculous and stupid, it contradicts historical\nfacts,\u201d Putin said. \u201cDivision into indigenous, first-class, second-class\ncategories of people and so on \u2013 this completely smacks of the theory and\npractice of Nazi Germany,\u201d the Russian President proceeded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukraine\u2019s\nForeign Ministry: Russians are a national minority, not an indigenous people. <\/strong>Commenting\non Putin\u2019s statement, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba\nsaid that the bill is \u201cfully in line with the UN Declaration on the Rights of\nIndigenous Peoples and the Constitution of Ukraine, and has nothing to do with\nthe subjective interpretations of the Russian President Vladimir Putin.\u201d    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2019Indigenous peoples\u2019 is a universally accepted\ndefinition in international law and in the law of many states. It was cemented\nby the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of 2007. The draft\nlaw introduced by the President actually implements those provisions of\ninternational law into the domestic law,\u201d Kuleba told \u201cInterfax Ukraine\u201d\nagency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Constitution of Ukraine guarantees that all\ncitizens of Ukraine are equal, regardless of ethnicity. It also assigns the\nresponsibility for protection of indigenous peoples and national minorities to\nthe state, Kuleba added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russians are a national minority in Ukraine.\n\u201cPressure referred to as a result of passing of the bill on indigenous peoples\nis not true. Rights of the Russian national minority have never been limited in\nUkraine. Protection and support to the functioning of the Ukrainian language as\nthe official language is normal. Protecting the right to speak Ukrainian in\nUkraine cannot threaten the use of other languages by definition,\u201d the Foreign\nMinister of Ukraine underscored.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mejlis:\nbill on indigenous peoples is key to de-occupation of Crimea. <\/strong>Putin\nconsciously manipulates the terminology in order to promote the notorious\nnarrative of the Russian propaganda, dismantled many times on the alleged\npersecution of Russians and Russian-speakers in Ukraine, said head of the Mejlis\nof the Crimean Tatar people Refat Chubarov in an interview with Radio Liberty. Kremlin\u2019s\nstatements saying that Poles, Hungarians, Jews, and other nations were not\nrecognized indigenous peoples of Ukraine despite \u201cliving here a long time, and\nhaving the right to be called indigenous peoples\u201d aim to sow discord in the\nUkrainian society, Chubarov said.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russians are worried as the summit of the Crimean Platform nears, the\nhead of the Mejlis explained. Speaking on the Day of Remembrance of Victims of\nthe Genocide of the Crimean Tatar People, President Zelenskyi said that\nrestoring and protecting the rights of Crimean Tatars as an indigenous people\nis at the heart of the strategy for de-occupation and reintegration of the\ntemporarily occupied Crimea and Sevastopol adopted in March, Chubarov reminded.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By adopting the law on the rights of indigenous peoples Ukraine will be\nable to access another stratum of international legislation, that on the rights\nof indigenous peoples to reinforce its right to restore its sovereignty over\nCrimea, Chubarov said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lately, Russian President Putin has mentioned Ukraine frequently. He recently said that Ukrainians and Russians are one people, and expressed indignation over a fresh law on the indigenous peoples of Ukraine, initially introduced to the Parliament by the President. President Zelenskyi and Ukraine\u2019s Foreign Ministry responded sharply. Here is what\u2019s key in this exchange of […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":144464,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[611],"tags":[32103],"section":[743,743],"form":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Ukrainians and Russians are not one people, and why Russians are not Ukraine\u2019s indigenous people | UACRISIS.ORG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lately, Russian President Putin has mentioned Ukraine frequently. 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