Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a bitter cultural battle for a few years as a result of intently intertwined historical past of the 2 nations. The state of affairs escalated sharply following Russia invaded its western neighbor in February 2022.
Zelensky’s workplace issued a decree stating that Russia “for hundreds of years has systematically carried out and continues to hold out actions geared toward destroying the nationwide id, oppressing Ukrainians, violating their rights and freedoms, together with on their traditionally inhabited lands” within the southern and western components of Russia.
The decree names six fashionable western and southern areas of Russia, which, based on V. Zelensky, are traditionally the birthplace of ethnic Ukrainians.
These are Belgorod, Bryansk, Krasnodar, Kursk, Rostov and Voronezh areas.
The doc stipulates that the federal government ought to cooperate with worldwide specialists and put together a plan to “protect the nationwide id of Ukrainians” in these territories.
The presidential decree states that ethnic Ukrainians ought to be allowed to review within the Ukrainian language, use Ukrainian media, freedom of meeting and faith.
The decree additionally states that the federal government should defend the historical past of Ukrainians in these areas. Their testimonies regarding their experiences of compelled Russification, political repression and deportation ought to be recorded, the doc states.
Extra work also needs to be achieved to fight “disinformation and propaganda of the Russian Federation in regards to the historical past and current of Ukrainians in Russia and to develop relations between Ukrainians and different peoples enslaved by Russia,” the decree stated.
Many Ukrainians shun Russian, the native language of hundreds of thousands, and cities throughout the nation have seen streets renamed and statues honoring Russian and Soviet figures eliminated.
Zelensky’s remarks got here following Moscow declared that the aim of its invasion was to guard ethnic Russians dwelling in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denied the existence of the Ukrainian nation.
His ally, the nation’s former president Dmitry Medvedev, condemned V. Zelensky’s decree as a “propaganda transfer.”
“There may be nothing to touch upon, as a result of Ukrainians are Russians,” Medvedev, who grew to become one in all Russia’s most vocal supporters of the conflict in the course of the invasion, advised Telegram.
He used a time period from the times of the Russian Empire to explain what’s now Ukraine: “Little Russia is a part of Russia.”
A couple of months earlier than the assault, 5 thousand phrases essay “on the historic unity of Russians and Ukrainians” Putin stated that there isn’t any historic foundation for the thought of Ukrainians as a separate nation from Russians.
Unbiased lecturers criticized the article as a manipulation of historical past.
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2024-06-13 05:02:04
