Ukrainian historian gives the Russian ambassador to Ukraine a history lesson

By Aussiegirl

Victor Chernomyrdin, Russia's ambassador to Ukraine, doesn't appear to think that Ukraine has ever existed as a sovereign state. He's about to get a history lesson. Ukraine was a great and civilized power long before Russia ever existed. If he is to be a successful ambassador, Chernomyrdnyn would be wise to learn the truth before he speaks.

:: Our Response to Chernomyrdin :: Ukrayinska Pravda

“Ukraine and Russia never co-existed as two independent states. Ukraine has never been a sovereign state. Now we have to learn to perceive it as such”. This is a recent statement of Victor Chernomyrdin, Russian ambassador in Ukraine.

It looks like this is an idée fixe of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary - he voices it on a regular basis. Three weeks prior to the Orange Revolution he claimed during his interview with “Izvestiya” correspondent: “Russia always has been an independent state. Ukraine has never been one. Such a country has never existed."

It is not our intention to have a dispute here whether such a statement was politically correct, the principle of political correctness is not something some Russian officials are very familiar with. His words could serve as evidence that 300 years on and still it has not been enough to make Ukraine develop an inferiority complex.
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The historical reality is something quite different from what the Russian ambassador is trying to portray. Russian territories during IX-XIII were enclosed in the territory of modern Ukraine. Any historian would know, that the word “Rus’” was used in relation to the territories of Central Ukraine, this geographical term referred to the territories of modern Kyiv, Chernihiv, Jhitomir and the parts of Vinnitsya, Poltava and Sumy regions. There is no doubt this was an independent state. It laid Novgorod and Zalissya under tribute. It was Kyiv who appointed the administrators into the dependent areas.

Of course, the Russian Ambassador may object that this was not Ukraine altogether because this word was not in use until XII century. However he is not right.

The territory of modern Ukraine included all of the territory of Rus’. The main cities of Rus’ – Chernihiv, Pereyaslav, Novgorod-Sivers’ky, the towns on Ros’ river, they all are located on the Ukrainian territory. The capital of Rus’ is a capital of Ukraine. The Ukrainian population undoubtedly has descended from the population of Kyiv Rus’ and has its cultural inheritance.

If to apply such logic, then the history of Russia as an independent state started only in 1713, when the Muscovite Kingdom had officially changed its name and became the Russian Empire by the tsar’s decree.

In reality, any schoolboy knows that this is not the case. The history of Russian independence started in 1480, when Moscow got out from under control of the Golden Horde.

However the historians define more precisely – over 100 years since then Moscovia could not be classed as an independent state, because it was paying the tribute to the Crimean Khan. That is why Crimean Tatars have suffered so much, Joseph Stalin learned his history lessons properly while attending the seminary, not using the textbook “History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union”.

Thus, if to stick to the truth, the history of Russia has lasted a little bit longer than 400 years, approximately the same time as the sovereignty of Kyiv during the period from 860 to 1240, which is backed up by documentary evidence.