Interpretation of Russian and Ukrainian jokes

Recently, Russians and Ukrainians living in the same family have started to work again. Even though they know that they can't beat big brother Russia, Ukrainians don't want to mix with Russians. They would rather take refuge in western countries and be pawns against Russia. Why don't they live in harmony like Russians and Belarusians, but become sworn enemies? It must be pointed out that the Ukrainians mentioned here refer to Ukrainians, excluding Russians in Ukraine. The root of the contradiction between them is not only the territorial problems of Crimea and Donbass in eastern Ukraine, but also other deeper reasons.

During the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, three ancient barbarians lived in the northern part of the Apennine Peninsula in Europe: Slavs, Celts and Germans. According to the distribution of settlements, Slavs gradually developed into three branches: West Slavs, Yugoslavs and East Slavs. Eastern Slavs are mainly distributed in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. West Slavs are mainly distributed in Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Yugoslavs are mainly six countries split from Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.

In the 9th century, the Ross, one of the Vikings, led by the leader Ryurik, went south to the Eastern European Plain. In 882 AD, the Russian kingdom occupied the city of Kiev in the middle reaches of the Dnieper River, which was called Kiev Ross in history. Kiev Ross takes Kiev on the Dnieper River as the core and expands around. They merged with the Eastern Slavs and became the common ancestor of later Russians, Ukrainians and Belos.

During the period of the Russian Kingdom in Kiev, there were no later Russian and Ukrainian populations, and the reasons why they changed from kin to feud were complicated and varied. To sum up, there are mainly the following aspects:

First, the differences in religious beliefs formed by different ethnic groups. After the establishment of the Russian Kingdom in Kiev, the territory of the Russian Kingdom in Kiev also expanded from 10 century to10 century, and the territory in its heyday included Ukraine, Belarus and western Russia. However, under the internal contradictions and struggles, the internal division of the Russian Kingdom in Kiev once formed as many as 18 principalities.

/kloc-At the beginning of the third century, the Mongolian army that swept across the Asian continent marched all the way to the grasslands of Eastern Europe. In A.D. 12 19 and 1235, the Mongols made two expeditions to the west and defeated the resistance of the Russian kingdom. Badou, the grandson of Genghis Khan, the commander-in-chief of the Mongolian army who led the second expedition, stayed in the conquered Chincha area and established the Golden Account Khanate. During its hundreds of years of rule, three ethnic groups have gradually formed: Russians, Ukrainians and Belo people. Later, the Golden Horde weakened and the Grand Duchy of Moscow rose. After continuous expansion and merger, the Principality of Tver, the Republic of Pskov and the Principality of Ryazan were merged. By 1547, Ivan IV claimed to be the czar, and the Russian Empire was officially born. This is czarist Russia in history.

During these hundreds of years, Ukraine and Belarus were under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland. Dissatisfied with the brutal rule of Polish nobles, 1648 Cossack Uprising broke out under the leadership of leader Khmelnitski. Due to their own lack of strength, Ukrainians turned to the Russian Empire for help. 1654 65438+ 10, representatives of Khmelnitski and Russia signed the Ukrainian-Russian merger treaty in Pereyaslav. The treaty came into effect the following year, and Russia successfully annexed eastern Ukraine east of Dnieper River. At this time, western Ukraine was still under Polish rule. Because Russia believes in Orthodox Christianity and Poland believes in Catholicism, eastern Ukrainians mainly believe in Orthodox Christianity and western Ukrainians mainly believe in Catholicism. This difference in religious beliefs has had a far-reaching impact on the contradictions between Ukrainians and Russians in the future.

Second, Ukrainians suffered severe oppression under Russian rule and lost their autonomous status. After Russia seized the eastern part of Ukraine, its desire for land in northern and western Europe did not weaken, and it frequently launched foreign wars. 1700, Tsar Peter I launched the "Northern War" with Sweden, recruited a large number of Ukrainian Cossacks to participate in the war, and forcibly abolished local autonomy in Ukraine, causing dissatisfaction in Ukraine. Therefore, in 1708, Ukrainian leader Mazepa made an alliance with Sweden to seek independence, but it was strongly suppressed by the Russian government, which became the starting point for Ukrainians to hate Russia.

On the other hand, during the period from 1772 to 1795, the Austrian Empire divided Poland three times, and Russia acquired the western Ukraine originally belonging to Poland (except Galicia), and the whole Ukraine was under Russian rule. In order to consolidate his rule over Ukraine, Peter the Great vigorously pursued a comprehensive Russian colonial policy, rebuilt Ukraine according to Russia's social model, values, language and culture, banned Ukrainian language teaching and publishing books, and forced Ukraine to learn Russian, which greatly aroused Ukrainians' hatred and resentment against Russia.

Third, Ukraine has always been committed to independence, but it has been repeatedly suppressed and opposed by Russia and the Soviet Union. Although Ukrainians and Russians are of the same ancestry, on the territory of the Russian Empire, Russians are dominant, and other ethnic groups, including Ukrainians, are often in a subordinate position, which is intolerable to Ukrainians who advocate freedom with Cossacks. Therefore, Ukrainians have never given up their intention to get rid of Russian rule and establish their own country independently, but they just can't find the right time at the moment.

After World War I, this moment has finally arrived. 19 17, February Revolution and October Revolution broke out in Russia. The Russian government and the interim government were overthrown, and the Bolshevik Party led by Lenin came to power. In order to withdraw from the war against Germany, the Soviet Russian government signed the Brest Peace Treaty with the allied countries headed by Germany. According to the contract, the Soviet Union and Russia recognized Ukraine's independence. In addition to concluding a peace treaty with Ukraine, they recognized peace treaties between Ukraine and Germany, and at the same time ceded more than one million square kilometers of territory. Fortunately, in the year when the treaty was signed, Germany was defeated in World War I, and the Soviet Russian government immediately declared the Brest Peace Treaty invalid.

However, Poland, which was restored after World War I, was unwilling to give up this former territory of Ukraine and go to war with Soviet Russia, which tried to control Ukraine again. Historically known as the Soviet-Polish War, Ukrainians also tried to achieve their own independence, but because of their lack of strength, they were jointly killed by the Soviet Union and the Polish countries. In the Soviet-Polish War, the Soviet Red Army won first and then lost, defeated Warsaw at the gates, and finally failed to win the whole territory of Ukraine. The western Ukraine, such as Galicia and Warren, was still in the hands of Poles, and then the Soviet Union established the Soviet regime in occupied Ukraine.

Anyone who has read How Steel was Tempered by the former Soviet writer ostrovsky will be familiar with the three villains in the book. They are former Russian generals Kolcak and Denikin, and Petriula, who is committed to Ukrainian independence. If we want to measure the contradiction and hatred between Ukraine and Russians, we can see from the evaluation of Petriula that in the eyes of Russians, Petriula is undoubtedly a heinous white bandit, but Ukrainians regard him as a national hero fighting for independence.

The same treatment as Petrella and Benjamin. The western Ukraine did not last long in the hands of Poles. 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union jointly carved up Poland again, and the Soviet Red Army also moved into eastern Poland. The former western Ukraine and western Belarus occupied by Poland were occupied by the Soviet Red Army, and Ukraine was completely captured by the Soviet Union.

194 1 On June 22nd, 2000, the Soviet-German War broke out. Bangella, who advocated Ukrainian independence, followed Nazi Germany to kill Soviet troops and killed Jews and Poles in China. On June 30th, Banjera convened a meeting in Lviv, which was occupied by the German army, and announced the establishment of an "independent state of Ukraine". However, Benjamin was quickly arrested by Hitler and sent to Berlin for detention. Benjamin was imprisoned, but his followers continued to cooperate with the Nazis. 1942, the team changed its name to "Ukrainian insurgents" and participated in the encirclement and suppression of Soviet guerrillas to help the Germans consolidate their rear areas. 195910 June 15, Benjamin was poisoned by Soviet KGB agents at his home in Germany at the age of 50. In the eyes of the Soviets, Benjamin was a sinner who undermined national unity, but in the eyes of Ukrainians, he was a national hero like Petriula. Therefore, in 20 10 and 1 year, Ukrainian President Yushchenko posthumously awarded Bangra as a "Ukrainian hero".

The fourth is the painful memory brought by the great famine and severe oppression suffered by Ukraine during the Soviet period. During Stalin's reign, in order to rapidly promote industrialization, Stalin strongly promoted the collective farm system, forced Ukrainian farmers to join collective farms, and confiscated a large amount of land, which made Ukrainian farmers prefer to slaughter livestock and destroy farm tools rather than leave them to the country, which greatly hit the production enthusiasm of Ukrainian farmers. Therefore, Ukraine, as the granary of the Soviet Union, suffered a severe famine. 1932- 1933 reached its peak. Famine spread all over the Soviet Union, especially in Ukraine, which triggered a serious social crisis and led to a population decline of several million. In addition to the great famine, the massive counter-revolutionary movement in the 1930s is also a painful memory of Ukrainians. After World War II, in order to expand its territory, the Soviet Union included a part of eastern Poland in its territory, and then allocated a part of eastern Germany to Poland as compensation. In order to enrich the newly incorporated land, the Soviet Union forced Ukrainians to move to Poland, which once again triggered a great vendetta between Poles and Ukrainians.

1990 On July 16, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted the Declaration on National Sovereignty of Ukraine. 199 1 On August 24th, 2008, the Ukrainian government issued a declaration of national independence, officially broke away from the Soviet Union, changed its name to Ukraine and joined the United Nations. Only then did Ukraine truly become an independent country. However, due to Ukraine's extremely special geographical factors, Russia dare not bear the cost of losing Ukraine.

From the perspective of geopolitics and global strategy, Ukraine is an important security barrier for Russia. NATO forms a semi-encirclement around central Russia, and Ukraine becomes one of the few strategic buffer zones and security barriers. If Ukraine completely falls to NATO, Russia will be completely exposed to NATO's military threat, and Ukraine's loss to Russia is tantamount to a serious geopolitical disaster. If Ukraine is influenced or controlled by European and American powers, the southern plains of Russia will also be defenseless. Therefore, for Russia, Ukraine is related to the basic security of the country and is the bottom line of Russia's eastward expansion of NATO. In any case, NATO's eastward expansion should stop in Ukraine and west of the Black Sea.

In addition, the loss of Ukraine also means the loss of the Black Sea and important trade routes. In foreign trade, the Black Sea is the main channel for Russia to trade with many European countries, and 25% of its total imports and 50% of its exports are transported through the Black Sea-Mediterranean. Without Ukraine, NATO troops can easily enter the Black Sea and directly threaten the Russian hinterland.

Therefore, Russia has always adopted a policy of both wooing and suppressing Ukraine, hoping that Ukraine will at least remain neutral. However, the western Ukrainians, who dominate Ukrainian politics, hope to integrate into the European family as soon as possible, which is irreconcilable with the eastern Ukrainians, especially the Russians who maintain close ties with Russia in industry.

At the end of 20 13, poroshenko was elected President of Ukraine. He adopted a policy of leaning completely to the west, which greatly intensified the contradiction with Russia and effectively suppressed the domestic opposition. This made the traditional pro-Russian region of eastern Ukraine more radical, and the three eastern States quickly established autonomous governments. In order to reduce the extremely bad influence of Ukraine's complete fall to the west on its strategic environment, Russia chose a radical intervention policy.

On the one hand, Russia strongly supported eastern Ukraine, on the other hand, it directly sent troops to win Crimea, and announced the return of Crimea to Russian territory through the Russian referendum, which accounted for an absolute majority of Crimea's population. This further intensified the contradiction between Ukraine and Russia.

Generally speaking, although Ukrainians and Russians are of the same origin, in the long river of history, most Ukrainians are in the tragic experience of being controlled or even oppressed by their eldest brother Russia. Such tragic national memory always reminds Ukrainians to stay away from Russians, which also causes the present situation of feud between Ukrainians and Russians. However, neighbors can't be elected. After the founding of independence, Ukraine wants to completely fall to Europe and the United States. However, on the one hand, the residents in the eastern part of the country are unwilling, but they try to strengthen their ties with Russia. Secondly, due to Ukraine's special geopolitical factors, Russia cannot afford to lose Ukraine. Not only captured strategically important Crimea, but also deeply involved in the conflict between eastern Ukraine and the central government of Ukraine. Although Ukraine does not have the capital to confront Russia, its desire to integrate into Europe, its desire to recover lost territory, its impulse to express loyalty to the United States and European countries and the memory of generations of hatred in history all determine that Ukraine's hatred of Russia will last for a long time.