Tag Archives: division

Two Ukraines – with a Statistical and Historical View at Novorossia

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The original article “Two Ukraines” appeared as blog by colonelcassad in Decmber 2013 in Russian.

I present here a translation of the article into English, with the infographics legend explained whenever feasible; but first I want to give some historical backdrop to where Novorossia comes from.

In his article Cold War Renewed With A Vengeance While Washington Again Lies Paul Craig Roberts very astutely writes:

The EU, ordered by Washington, told Russia to suppress the opposition in southern and eastern Ukraine to Washington’s stooge government in Kiev. But, as every educated person knows, including the White House, 10 Downing Street, Merkel, and Holland, Russia is not responsible for the separatist unrest in eastern and southern Ukraine. These territories are former constituent parts of Russia that were added to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic by Soviet Communist Party leaders when Ukraine and Russia were two parts of the same country.

The county of Novorossia was established by the Highest Decree of the Russian Empress Ekaterina II in 1764 and existed until 1802, when it was divided into three smaller counties: Nikolaevskaja, Ekaretinoslavskaja and Tavricheskaja counties. The reason for creation of Novorossia countie on the former territories of Slavjano-Serbia was to create a buffer zone against Osmano-Tatar aggression

Below is the maps of the Novorossia:
1800_Novoros_gov

And here is the Ekaterinoslavskaja county shown against the borders of Ukraine:
Gubernia_de_Ekaterinoslav_-_Imperio_ruso

Here is what Ukraine consited of until February (Crimea made a lucky escape and re-joined Russia):
Ukraina1653
Legend:
Light yellow – Zaprozhje – Ukraine before 1654
Orange – Presents of Russian monarchs between 1654 and 1917
Light-green – Novorossia – Lenin’s present in 1922
Medium-green (5+6) – Eastern Galicia – Stalin’s present of 1939-1940 (given to USSR according to Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement)
Dark-green – Crimea – Khrushjov’s present in 1954
Transcarpathia (9) – taken from Czechoslovakia in 1945
Northern Bukovina and Southern Southern (7+8) – captured by USSR in 1940

So bearing in mind that Ukraine is a collection of disparate lands, and remembering the Russian roots of the Cossacks living on the lands of Novorossia, the move performed by Lenin after the coup d’etat of 1917, in creating Ukraine and assigning to it the territories of Novorossia was a direct recipe for creating a problem for future generations.

The people of the East differ to much from their Polish-rooted Western cousins.

And now it’s time to introduce the translation of the blog post Two Ukraines.


(Legend: “Yukraina” to the left; “Yakraina” to the right, with percentage of people who voted for Yushenko or Yanukovich during the last legitimate presidential elections)

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The Wild-Wild West

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This letter was printed in the #10/2014 international paper edition of Argumenty i Facty in Russian at the time when the Second Maidan was about to turn violent. It presents an interesting background view on the situation from a perspective of a person living in Kiev. Here is an English translation of the letter:

If someone says Ukraine nowadays, a word combination “West-East” is always attached to it.

I’ve lived in Kiev centre for 22 years. When I was 6, I for the first time went to the “west” with my parents – to Lvov, and asked in a shop there to sell me a bun. The female seller demonstratively didn’t hear me, as if I was speaking Chinese. A granny from the queue called me for “little moskal” (translator note: the term “moskal” is used by Western Ukrainian about all Easter Ukrainians and Russians and has the same connotation as British “Frogs” with regards to French of Mexican “Greengos” with regard to Americans). My mother, blushing brokenly translated my request to Ukrainian, and I got my bun after all, while at the same time taking away the feeling of a united and friendly Motherland.

Ukraine adjusted itself to its “wild-wild west” since 1939, the moment when the Western territories were officially ascended into USSR. “Western super race” dictates to the “grey central-eastern majority” (which in fact feeds it!) its rules and conditions, which became especially starkly apparent during Euromaidan. Over the course of a few months Westerners have defecated one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. It’s doubtful if they’d allowed to pee in the yards of the “central houses” of Lvov.

In the Western Ukraine, the inter-national strife and fights were even more ruthless than in the Baltics. It’s especially remarkable that the “central Kievans” were repressed there even with more passion than, for example, Moscovites – only because in the Westerners’ view we lived in “undeserved chocolate” (translator note: “privilege”). All my trips to western Ukraine we always conducted in a state of extreme stress.

…Once we go to the ski resort of Jaremch, sent from the central Kiev House of Pioneers – during check in at the hotel we tell the receptionist that “we came from Ivano-Frankovshina” (translator note: the last word written in Ukrainian), so as to be housed without problems. In Kiev University we are forced to study the subject under the name of… “Basics of Ukrainian Nationalism”, which praises Stepan Bandera, and during the exams, the exemplary students are from “the west”.

Already one year ago I was listening to conversations about dividing Ukraine, and though: what nonsense is this? Yes, the west and the east are very different. But how can one imagine my country without the emerald slopes of the Carpathian mountains, the brown taste of Lvov coffee and ascent to the mountain Goverla – the highest point in Ukraine? After having be smoked in the hellish smoke of barricades, built by the westerners in Kiev, I suddenly realised – it’s possible! And quite probable it must be so – so that the westerners would finally realise what they had all these years from the hated by them “overDnieprjanshina”.

For the reference: Lvovsk, Ivano-Frankovsk, Ternopolsk, Volynsk and Rovensk regions, which contain 14% of Ukrainian populations stand for only 8%(!) of the industrial production of the country. Donetsk region alone, having only 10% of the Ukrainian population produces 21% of the industrial products! Therefore all speculations about the west separating from the east are nothing more than speculations. What will they live of? The GDP of the Greater Volyn is only 1.3% of the Ukraine’s GDP. The average salary in the west is the lowest in the country. The experts compare the economic development of the Carpathian soil to that of Zimbabwe! And the Western Ukraine has 7 times lower GDP comparing to that of Belarus, which Western Ukraine is comparable to in terms of population count.

— Oksana Sviridenko

I can add to that from the translator and observer perspective, that Donbass region transferred to the central government 95%-97% of the their income in the form of various taxes – in other words, only 3%-5% stayed in the region and could be used for its development. The main reason for federalisation, in addition to the right to use Russian as mother tongue, was fro the finances to stay in the region in greater proportion. Both requests shot down (literally) by the central government, which is comprised solely of westerners.