What kind of Ukraine do we love?

The following is a collection of readers’ comments carried by Rossiyskaia gazeta on Jan. 29, 2010, entitled “What kind of Ukraine do we love?” For a Russian-government-run periodical, considering Russia-Ukraine relations that are anything but simple, this approach serves as an example of professional journalist integrity. A dialog, however difficult, is better than mounting estrangement caused, among other things, by misunderstandings and inability to speak the same language.

Grigoriy POMERANTS, specialist in cultural studies:

“Ukrainian songs and what one could describe as the element of folklore have become part and parcel of my life. They are part of my overall perception of the entire Eastern Slavic culture. It is unthinkable without the Ukrainian component. In Ukraine it appears to have been better preserved and less affected by the urbanization process.

“I passed through Ukraine during the war and later kept in touch with my Ukrainian friends (one of them was a trained folklorist). I could feel that this folk foundation, folkways, remained in verse, tales, and stories. I can only hope all this will be kept from being trampled over in our hustle and bustle.

“As for our image in the eyes of modern Ukrainians, which we saw in Rossiyskaia gazeta, it is hard for me to grasp all the views on Russia that I have heard. Great power chauvinism and boorishness have always been sharply criticized in my country, too, and the ridiculous analogy between Dostoevsky and Zhirinovsky isn’t worth being analyzed. By the same token a parallel could be drawn between Lesia Ukrainka and Valeriya Novodvorskaya.

“It would be ridiculous to visualize Russia as an organism with only one thinking head. This is something you won’t find in any country because there are different layers/strata everywhere. Only a certain social stratum treats Ukraine with vestiges of great power [chauvinism]. The majority, all those who are creating culture to leave it as a legacy, are immune to this attitude. Most of the traits mentioned by Ukrainian authors as specifically Russian are as remote from me as the Himalayas are from Vorobiovyie Hills [in Moscow].

“Such discussions, I’m afraid, have become overemotional of late, due to political passions.

“Unfortunately, all modern cultures are exposed to the depersonalization process, with cultural originality being eroded by media standards. I remember asking a visiting Western Sovietologist for her opinion during Soviet times. She replied that every new idea is turned into a scratched LP.

“This is a common disease of modern civilization. I remember reading Yuriy Bogomolov’s column in Rossiyskaia gazeta where a female newscaster complained that hers is a mask, not a face. Den’s low rating of Russian culture is true precisely in regard to such masks. Yet these masks aren’t innately Russian; they are quite widespread and made probably even less attractive by the critical condition of our cultures after the collapse of the old Soviet system. The mass terror of the 20th century deprived Ukraine and Russia of outstanding cultural figures; that’s why the depersonalization process and response to masks rather than faces are so strong.

“However, the elite, the critically thinking, creative minority must struggle against them, ridding the society and themselves of cliches.

“All of us ought to remember these lines from Krylov’s fable: ‘Thy counting will but trouble earn, / ‘Twere better, gossip, on thyself thy look to turn!’ It serves a better purpose to try to figure out what prevents you from revealing your own creative individuality, although pointing an accusing finger is much easier.”

Leonid LIKHTERMAN, neurosurgeon, laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation:

“Unfortunately, our press and television often present events in Ukraine in a one-sided, sometimes even biased way. However, I don’t think it’s fair to say that Russians now regard Ukraine as one of their major enemies, as did Larysa Ivshyna in her publication ‘Why do I love Russia?’ carried by Rossiyskaia gazeta. (Ratings, it should be noted, often turn out to be maliciously programmed.) We care and are concerned about Ukraine just as we do about Russia, about their joint and separate hardships.

“I think that adding fuel to the fire of nationalism is detestable. I remember visiting Poland on a business trip back in the 1990s. During a workshop seminar conducted by a well-known film director in Warsaw I met several young filmmakers from Ukraine. They were good, clever fellows. We had a friendly chat in Russian and discovered we had mutual friends. But when I met with them a week later I was stunned. They refused to speak Russian. What happened? Why the sudden metamorphosis? The [Polish] film director, an experienced pedagogue and psychologist, explained: ‘I broached various subjects in my lectures. For example, what would be Lviv without Ukraine? It would be Lviv. What would be Ukraine without Lviv? It would be Kyiv gubernia. Gogol turned traitor to the Ukrainian people. Why? Because he was Ukrainian but wrote in Russian.’ He had told them enough such stuff, and they had made their own conclusions and stopped speaking Russian. My goodness! One week was enough to brainwash guys so thoroughly. That’s the danger of blindfolding nationalism which is antihuman by nature. This is what I don’t like about Ukraine.

“I maintain good business and friendly contacts with colleagues at the Kyiv Institute of Neurosurgery and many clinics across Ukraine. These contacts are solid and immune to gas wars and other cataclysms, just as they are immune to the deadly disunity syndrome. We keep visiting each other, attending conferences, sharing experience, and discussing brain treatment problems, the way we did 20 years ago. We keep an atmosphere of warm understanding and mutual support. That’s the way it has been and will be despite all superficial differences between Russia and Ukraine.”

Boris PASTERNAK, director general, Vremya Publishers:

“I might say that Leonid Kuchma and I are comrades in arms. After conscription I served in the unit that guarded Mikhail Yangel’s Design Bureau and the Southern Engineering Plant (Pivdenmash) in Dnipropetrovsk. He [Leonid Kuchma] was its director general. (For those in Russia who don’t know, Pivdenmash was the Soviet Union’s largest production facility specializing in strategic missiles and space vehicles.)

“It was there that I formed my image of Ukraine: missiles, aircraft, red night sky over the steelworks, and giant high voltage line supports near the Dniprohes (Dnipro Hydropower Station). And there were also melon fields, an 80-kilometer apricot tree alley from Dnipropetrovsk to Zaporizhia, wheat fields, and Dnipro beaches. A powerful and beautiful country.

“Forty years later I published Kuchma’s book under the provocative title Ukraine isn’t Russia.

“I can understand why Kuchma decided to publish his book in Moscow. He thus demonstrated his independence of Ukraine’s political situation at the time. No one in Ukraine would have dared accuse him of pro-Moscow orientation. Of this he was sure. We published this excellent voluminous book filled with respect for both countries. The print run was huge by contemporary standard: over 100,000 hardcover and more than 300,000 concise paperback copies.

“I believe Kuchma’s book did not leave any of its Russian readers with the slightest degree of condescending attitude toward Ukraine as a failed, inferior, or dependent state.

“It is true that Ukraine isn’t Russia and many things happen there in a different way. The book fair at which we launched Kuchma’s book coincided with the peak of events on the Maidan where thousands of people brandishing blue and orange flags filled the city center every day, and every evening they peacefully left the square, visiting cafes, movie theaters, walking down Khreshchatyk Street. No one was arrested by OMON militia riot squads, and people were free to stay on the Maidan Independence Square. Much as I wish, I can’t imagine anything like that in Moscow.

“I’m closely following the presidential race in Kyiv where political stands and interests openly clash. Once again, I can’t visualize anything like that in Moscow.

“I’m sure they will do everything the right way and succeed.”

Larisa UDOVICHENKO, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation:

“To begin with, I’m half-Ukrainian and all my paternal relatives live in Ukraine, so I often visit this country. I’d say that the Ukrainian nation is a very talented and singing one; it has produced a great many amazing operatic voices. Persistence is also a Ukrainian trait. It can serve a good purpose in some cases and become an impediment in other cases. Anyway, positive persistence and determination are always good. I hope that the current elections in Ukraine will show this country the new and right way of progress.”

Aleksei IVANOV, history teacher, Kostroma:

“I love Ukraine and its people with a high degree of national self-consciousness. I love Ukraine and its hard-working people who know and take pride in their history, even though it was more on the dramatic, tragic rather than heroic side. I love Ukraine and its people who respect their mother tongue, saying proudly ‘Our language is like a song of a nightingale.’ I love Ukraine where every historical region has its own inimitable national coloration, traditions, and folkways.

“I love Orthodox Ukraine whose adherents have succeeded in preserving their forefathers’ faith despite all the sharp historical bends and are now helping build a new democratic society relying also on Christian values.

“I love Ukraine where there is a portrait of Taras Shevchenko beside the icons in every village home. He was a poet and citizen who succeeded in awakening the Ukrainian spirit in Ukraine in the 19th century, a time of ordeal for this country, and in showing that Ukrainians were people who had the right to live an independent national life and be happy in their native land.

“Regrettably, the relations between the two countries leave much to be desired at present, but this is no fault of Russians or Ukrainians. Those in power in both countries are completely responsible, although it is their duty to strengthen everything that unites us instead of promoting that which sets us apart.”