[LINK] "Russia's Ukrainian minority under pressure"
Al Jazeera's Ian Bateson reports on the pressures faced by many Ukrainians in Russia. This is a large population, numbering perhaps two million people and well-embedded in Russian society, some descending from border communities and some from Soviet-era and post-Soviet labour migrants.
It makes the depressing argument that, apparently, the simple fact of self-identifying as Ukrainian with a distinctive and separate identity and language is perceived by many Russians--certainly by the Russian state!--as a declaration of hostility. What this augurs for Russian-Ukrainian relations in the future I leave to the reader.
One day last month Roman Romanenko, a Ukrainian living in the Russian city of Vologda, came home to find a swastika painted on his door and flyers stuffed in his neighbours' mailboxes.
The flyers read: "Living in your building is a piece of Lviv scum", referring to a western Ukrainian city with a strong sense of national identity, many of whose residents supported the protest movement that led to the ousting of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich.
The flyers warned that Romanenko supported the protest movement, and that his apartment could become a centre for anti-Russian Ukrainian extremists.
Romanenko, who is originally from eastern Ukraine and not Lviv, is the editor of a local newspaper. He recently wrote a popular Facebook post asking Russian President Vladimir Putin to send Russian troops to Vologda, as he had done in Crimea - but this time, to protect local Russians from corruption.
Recently questioned by the local prosecutor's office, he said the situation has become harder for Ukrainians in Russia over the past few months. "I don't really talk about Ukraine anymore - not because I don't have anything to say, but because the topic is just too hot."
Many Russians were euphoric at their country's takeover and annexation last month of the Crimean peninsula, which had belonged to neighbouring Ukraine. But Russia's sizeable Ukrainian minority has remained conspicuously silent. "If you try and talk about Ukraine, they just call you a Banderite [a follower of Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera] or a Maidan protester," Romanenko told Al Jazeera.
It makes the depressing argument that, apparently, the simple fact of self-identifying as Ukrainian with a distinctive and separate identity and language is perceived by many Russians--certainly by the Russian state!--as a declaration of hostility. What this augurs for Russian-Ukrainian relations in the future I leave to the reader.
One day last month Roman Romanenko, a Ukrainian living in the Russian city of Vologda, came home to find a swastika painted on his door and flyers stuffed in his neighbours' mailboxes.
The flyers read: "Living in your building is a piece of Lviv scum", referring to a western Ukrainian city with a strong sense of national identity, many of whose residents supported the protest movement that led to the ousting of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich.
The flyers warned that Romanenko supported the protest movement, and that his apartment could become a centre for anti-Russian Ukrainian extremists.
Romanenko, who is originally from eastern Ukraine and not Lviv, is the editor of a local newspaper. He recently wrote a popular Facebook post asking Russian President Vladimir Putin to send Russian troops to Vologda, as he had done in Crimea - but this time, to protect local Russians from corruption.
Recently questioned by the local prosecutor's office, he said the situation has become harder for Ukrainians in Russia over the past few months. "I don't really talk about Ukraine anymore - not because I don't have anything to say, but because the topic is just too hot."
Many Russians were euphoric at their country's takeover and annexation last month of the Crimean peninsula, which had belonged to neighbouring Ukraine. But Russia's sizeable Ukrainian minority has remained conspicuously silent. "If you try and talk about Ukraine, they just call you a Banderite [a follower of Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera] or a Maidan protester," Romanenko told Al Jazeera.