Russian Imperialism - Blog Posts

russians are an exceptional case of minor in their mentality citizens of great in it’s size empire. given their attitude, it’s absolutely embarrassing to even call em people. in Ukrainian worldview, to be called person is to be conscious of your own actions, aware of basic principles of your own freedom, respect each and everyone’s personal boundaries (and country borders, if such is the case, tho :] ). this set of values it the bare minimum for self-respecting and self-worthy human being. russians will barely tick one of the boxes. and barely’s already exaggerated word for whatevs their outlook is

ukraine may be fighting the biggest modern empire in the world that wants to take its colony back to oppress and subjugate its people and culture as it has been for CENTURIES but that still not anti-imperialistic enough for some people

ukraine is incompatible with russian national myth that enjoys the exclusive claim to the history of rus and the city of kyiv. so it's about history then, you may think. well, no, in truth it has nothing to do with history. what happened in the early medieval past is completely irrelevant. the existence of ukraine today, with her culture, language, identity and the city of kyiv as her capital, neatly situated in the heartland of ukrainian classicism, populated with visual and conceptual ukrainian archetypes, is what incompatible with russian national myth. the real history of kyiv is largely irrelevant to how both ukrainians and russians see it, but if for us, it's just our capital, for russians, real or not real, it's where conceptually their state began, where orthodoxy came from, where writing came from. all roads lead to rome, first, second or third, but before that, they lead to kyiv. and yet it is occupied by a different ethnicity. how come? it prevents them from exploiting this land for the legitimisation of the russian empire as they constructed it

they have tried to accommodate it. in the empire, ukrainians did not exist. everyone knew we did. yet we didn't. we were russians with an asterisk leading to the bottom of the page where you could read *little so we could be distinguished on the census from the russians we already were. our language did not exist, and it was banned dozens of times precisely for not existing. ukraine, which was not a real place, was the most integral russian land, full of exotic cossack artifacts, southern landscapes and dark-haired native women, who, peculiarly, even pronounced the vowels differently

soviet union was the time when russians learned to say that ukrainians were a different people, but not to think it. "an unbreakable union of free republics, the great rus' has sealed forever". ukraine had to be contained, by historiographic concepts of three intrinsically connected eastern slavic peoples through ancient russian state, culture and language, that came to change imperial doctrine of the triune nation; by our modern borders to which the borders of our identity receded shortly after 1926 census, to cut some edges and undo the results of widespread settlerism across eurasia for which russians used us in the time when we did not exist; by russification for which, unlike the empire, soviet union had actual capabilities

they could never leave us alone. and all that came with no respect, but with the sense of entitlement to everything we possess. there has never been a moment, since at least the 18th century, when russians looked at ukraine and saw anything other than a glorified province, an exotic appendage, an amusement park full of stock characters who perform their small-town culture "for" or "in spite of" russians, but never to themselves. it is so ingrained into their ideology, that it is almost uncanny to meet a russian who consistently uses "ukrainian" instead of a slur. to mention any sense of equality would be laughable

but even that is not enough. a provincialised, firmly colonised in the past and the present ukraine is not a solution to russian nationalism, it's a palliative. because the fantasy of ukraine being a safe russia's subaltern will always be overpowered by the reality of ukraine being fundamentally different. they can't make us russian. even when they succeed, they fail. they have to exterminate us. the times when russians were truly honest about us being foreign to them, calling us, maybe in awe, maybe in fear, "cherkassy", that is circassians, are long behind us, but maybe recoverable in the new context of russian colonisation of caucasus and new solidarities it created

i want to believe that this is the last russo-ukrainian war, but while we are fighting, i implore people to remember about one article, published by a russian state-owned news agency on april 3, 2022, "what russia should do with ukraine", one of the most lucid statement of the russian ideology. to you, of course, to us, it's a daily experience. it tells in no uncertain terms that ukrainians are nazis not because they exhibit nazi ideology, but because they are ukrainian. it calls for complete destruction of ukraine, the name "ukraine" itself, because the existence of it "inevitably leads to nazism". it says that ukrainians, who must become russian, must also experience war "to atone their historical guilt". even in their wildest genocide dreams, they still can't help but realise that we are not actually russian. they're not stupid, as soothing as this thought can be, they know what they're doing very well. and yet they can't see the main and only flaw

and i want to add, that none of it was inevitable. it only seems inevitable if you believe that russian imperialism is natural and not manufactured, something people bleat about as the pinnacle of russophobia, unable to simply say that it's stupid. russia could have not been an empire, russia could have changed, russia still can change. will it? the answer is as irrelevant as the real history russia cannibalised to become the monstrosity it is today and destroy my life. no matter. i know what ukraine should do with russia. defeat it, for the sake of ourselves and all before us who could not

I think, being Ukrainian, the cherry on top to just living through a genocide of your people and news about more and more rape, deaths and destruction every single day, is the constant gaslighting and whining from russians and some non-russians alike about us being so russophobic for daring to not appreciate the great russian culture.

Babes, this IS russian culture. Genocide, theft, rape, murder - that is russian culture. Everything else (ballet, literature, and the like) basically exists to facilitate, justify or disguise the things mentioned above. And everyone defending that culture, promoting it and giving it platform and awards participate in this genocide, willingly or not.

And until the russian people themselves process their identity and culture and the issues with it and work on it, it's not going to change.

It's so surreal to wake up after barely falling asleep, read about all the casualties caused by that russian attack at night, and literally next to that report is news of Trump once again saying that Russia is ready for peace and it's Ukraine that makes everything complicated and doesn't want to stop the war (for some reason stupid Ukrainians don't want to give up to Russia their land and people that live there, shocking).

I want to [redacted] this man with my own bare hands

From now on instead of answering stupid questions like "What did russian language did to you, it's only a language" I will share this poem.

"Ravenous Russia (A Bestiary)" by Yuriy Tarnawsky

Full: https://www.kyivpost.com/post/44584

INKTOBER

Day 31: Landmark.

Наш шлях тернистий, але він є.

INKTOBER

Day 29: Navigator.

Day 30: Violin.

INKTOBER

Day 27: Road.

Zhytomyr highway.

Day 28: Jumbo.

INKTOBER

Day 25: Scarecrow.

Day 26: Camera.

Kremenchuk. 27.06.2022

INKTOBER

Day 23: Rust.

Day 24: Expedition.

INKTOBER

Day 21: Rhinoceros. Nova Kachovka.

Day 22: Camp.

The solovki special camp was the largest soviet concentration camp. Nowadays, russians have created a lot of concentration camps, where they send Ukrainian POWs and civilians to torture or kill them.

INKTOBER

Day 19: Ridge. Qırım, the Valley of Ghosts.

Day 20: Uncharted. "20 000".

INKTOBER

Day 17: Journal.

Day 18: Drive.

INKTOBER

Day 15: Guidebook.

Day 16: Grungy. Yahidne.

"The 13 steps of life"

INKTOBER

Day 13: Horizon. Borodianka.

Day 14: Roam.

INKTOBER

Day 11: Snacks.

People keep forgetting that the boycott is needed no matter how long-term and low-efficient it looks. It's been 10 years since the start of russian aggression in Ukraine, and it's been centuries since russian aggressiom towards any other neighbouring nation. Yet, for some people it's still "I can't live without oreo/milka/anything else" and not "I know I'm responsible for my actions" and "I care about other people's lives". There's a lot of ways to check what company keeps having their hands in blood and what doesn't, and it literally takes just 30 secs to find this information.

Please, if you care about justice and peace — boycott the sponsors of russian terrorism.

Day 12: Remote.

"Human safari". Cherson.

“ordinary russians are not guilty of anything and shouldn't be held responsible for the actions of their authorities”

meanwhile:

ordinary russians voluntarily join the russian army to kill Ukrainians and Syrians

ordinary russians organize safari hunting and killing Ukrainian civilians with drones

ordinary russians torture and execute Ukrainian and Syrian civilians and soldiers, filming it on camera

ordinary russians come to the destroyed occupied territories and arrange "fancy and mysterious" photoshoots like it's some kind of disneyland

ordinary russians go abroad to willingly glorify russia at pro-russian rallies

ordinary russians persecute and kill Ukrainians abroad

ordinary russians export stolen Ukrainian clothes, household appliances and cars to russia

ordinary russians buy all these stuff knowing perfectly well and seeing from the labels that these things were stolen from the houses and shops of murdered Ukrainians

ordinary russians donate to support the russian army

ordinary russians make shells and drones at factories in three shifts

ordinary russians sew equipment

ordinary russian activists weave camouflage nets, make trench candles and collect donations for the russian army

ordinary russian truck drivers bring all this to the frontlines

ordinary russians make software for missiles

ordinary russian tourists go on vacation to the russian-occupied Crimea

ordinary russians sell and buy apartments in occupied territories whose residents were killed

ordinary russians write happy comments after shelling Ukrainian homes markets hospitals and schools

ordinary russian doctors go to the frontlines to save russian soldiers

ordinary russians work in prisons and torture prisoners of war with starvation

ordinary russian teachers in the occupied territories reeducate Ukrainian children

ordinary russian social workers kidnap and take Ukrainian children to russia

ordinary russian miners extract coal for steel smelting

ordinary russian metallurgists work three shifts at blast furnaces to melt steel

ordinary russian celebrities shoot pro-russian films, write pro-russian songs and call to join the russian army

ordinary russians organize mass protests in russia against the closing of McDonald's, but not against the war

ordinary russian children draw pictures of russian soldiers brutally killing Ukrainians

ordinary russian artists in russia and abroad create pro-russian art glorifying russia and the russian army

ordinary russians create videogames that promote russian brutality and the army

ordinary russian teachers teach children to hate other nations

ordinary russian trainers prepare children for warfare and murder

ordinary russians ignore russian crimes on the territory of Ukraine and Syria as they ignored crimes on the territory of Georgia. because they believe it has nothing to do with them and it shouldn't affect their comfortable lifestyle.

should i go on?

Putin is not the cause of russian brutality, terrorism and bloodthirstiness. Putin is a consequence.

before Putin, there were other presidents, other tsars and other authorities in russia. only one thing has not changed — russian imperialism and chauvinism.

don't be silent and please continue to support Ukraine! don't let your politicians betray Ukraine, Ukraine needs help to defeat russia!

INKTOBER

Day 9: Sun.

"Blackout".

Day 10: Nomadic.

INKTOBER

Day 7: Passport.

Day 8: Hike.

INKTOBER

Day 5: Binoculars.

Day 6: Trek.

INKTOBER

Day 3: Boots.

Day 4: Exotic.

INKTOBER

Day 1: Backpack.

"24.02.2022"

Day 2: Discover.

"10.09.2022"

the saying "ignorance is bliss" was right because what the fuck is this

People forget that while Ukraine isn't allowed to harm one hair on Russia's soil, Russia has been working hard to kill Ukrainians not just with misiles

- by destroying the medical infrastructure

- freezing or burning people to death by destroying the power grid that helps people survive during winter and increasingly hot summers

- by kidnapping and re-educating Ukrainian children and adopting them into Russian families

- by destroying Ukraine's food production capacity

- by targetting civilian areas, in broad daylight, such as shopping centres

- by destroying cultural institutions, museums, universities, schools

- by riddling farm land with mines it will take decades to remove that will maim and kill farmers and children

- by causing one of the worst environmental disasters when they blew up a dam

- by executing and torturing and raping men, women, children and elderly who are Ukrainian

- by creating generations of trauma and loss, some of which has and will end with people taking their own lives

- by convincing the whole world that it's ok for them to keep doing this without consequence whether in Chechnya, Syria, Ukraine, Georgia, Mali, Sudan, Central Africa, and the list goes on

And that all not even touching on how the operate in the actual battle field, using chemical weapons and white phosphorus, or executing POWs, and civilians in captured towns.

And this isn't touching on centuries of linguistic and cultural repression, political repression, forced starvation, forced labour, death by displacement, gulags, and summary executions.

Russia is a plague on the world. Hell, on its own people.

And it's been that way for centuries. Before Putin. Even before Stalin. Even before the Tzar.

Repression. Oppression. Violence. Totalitarianism. Subservience to power. Apathy in the face of it all. That's all it has to offer in its grotesque history, art and culture.

Russians: why don’t you like us so much?

Ukrainians: You nation is trying to destroy our country again. Actually, your policy towards us hasn't changed from 19th century. All of you need to go through the process of decolonization, review your history and culture. It is time to acknowledge Russian imperialism and colonial view on other nations which is still strong nowadays. You need to accept that our relations weren’t equal, it is a history of abuse. Then we can talk

Russians: it’s putin’s war. That’s all lie. We are brother nations

Ukrainians: ok, in the context of war and a time when our existence as nation and country is in danger, we define everything Russian to be an existential threat. Our priority is to survive, everything else can be reviewed later. We are protecting Ukrainian in Ukraine from Russian destruction

Russians: how dare you. We knew that you hate us for no reason. You are nazi

russian mysterious soul is death and destruction

- Where are all Ukrainian writers? Why there are so few of them?

Just one example of hundreds similar cases:

Geo Shkurupiy was born on April 20, 1903, a Ukrainian writer of the avant-garde genre. Shot by the NKVD (the Secret Police of the USSR) on December 8, 1937, in Leningrad. His place of rest is still unknown. His wife, Varvara Bazas, was assigned the WTM category — "the Wife of a Traitor to the Motherland". Together with their son Georgiy, they - as an "enemy of the people" family - were forcibly evicted from Kyiv by the Soviet authorities.

To all those who died alone in the Russian occupation

🕯 "To all those who died alone in the Russian occupation". Muzychi village, Kyiv region

These are the words on the tombstone that stands on the grave of the mother of Ukrainian artist Alevtina Kakhidze. The artist installed it in 2021. This memorial project consists of six marble doors that replicate the location of the doors in the house of Alevtina's mother, known as Klyubnyka Andriivna, in the village of Zhdanivka, Donetsk region, as well as concrete porch steps recreated in real life. When the war in eastern Ukraine broke out, the artist's mother was unable to leave her home despite her daughter's persuasion. Alevtina dedicated a series of works to her mother, which were shown at exhibitions in Ukraine and abroad. Kakhidze's mother died in 2019 - her heart stopped while crossing one of the checkpoints controlled by the militants of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic". She was buried in the Kyiv region.

This is not the kind of message that children should receive from their parents "If we are killed, all the documents are in the basement."

This is what I mean when I say that we cannot negotiate and freeze the conflict. Because children from the occupied territories, who are now 14-17 years old, will be fighting against us in five years.

Don't be indifferent. Make Russia pay. Please hear our cry out to the world, keep spreading our voices, and donate to our army and combat medics (savelife.in.ua, prytulafoundation.org, Serhii Sternenko, hospitallers.life, ptahy.vidchui.org, and u24.gov.ua).