Chornobyl: the secret tragedy which led to the collapse of the Soviet Union
Kyiv, a 10-y.o. old boy comes from school and says: - Mom, a girl in my school told…
Browsing Tag
USSR
105 posts
Ukraine’s Chornobyl, like Russia’s Chelyabinsk before it: Symbols of untenable Soviet moral decay
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Chornobyl (Chernobyl) Nuclear Power Plant disaster. On April 25, 1986, workers…
What Russia’s opposition can learn from a Soviet dissident from Ukraine
I once had the good fortune to meet Yakov Osmolovsky, a Soviet dissident from Ukraine whose fate brought…
The Kremlin’s revival of the “red project” may ultimately turn against it
In early July, I wrote about how it is profitable for the Kremlin to take advantage of radical…
Two anniversaries of Soviet state terrorism must not be forgotten
Twenty-five years ago today, Soviet forces carried out an act of state terrorism in the Latvian capital of…
Putin: The West wants to prevent reconstruction of the USSR
"Considering Ukraine and former Soviet Union area, I am sure that the position of our Western partners, European…
Belavezha Accords are not just about the past
Twenty-four years ago today at the Belarusian resort of Belovezhskaya Pushcha, the presidents of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine…
Stalin’s expansionist designs blocked signing of second Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty
Seventy-five years ago this weekend, Vyacheslav Molotov left Berlin without the second Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty Moscow and Berlin had…
ZRADA: the Ukrainian talent of feeling betrayed whenever, wherever
Trying to explain ZRADA to Western observers is difficult. It is much like how explaining sovok to Western observers…
History, Identity and Holodomor Denial: Russia’s continued assault on Ukraine
On Saturday November 7, 2015, a long-awaited memorial to a little-known modern genocide will be dedicated in Washington…
This is why Ukraine needs decommunization of public spaces
The law condemning Communist and Nazi totalitarian regimes adopted this spring provides for the removal of Soviet symbolism…
Here’s how Kyiv’s subway would look like with Nazi symbols instead of Soviet ones
Ukraine has been independent for 24 years since the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, but in…
Soviet myths about World War II and their role in contemporary Russian propaganda
We often can understand what is happening today by looking at history. However, in the hands of Russian…
Despite a Russian’s claims, US didn’t ‘recognize Donbas’ in 1959 – but what it did do should still worry Moscow
Soviet and now Russian writers have often expressed anger at the Captive Nations Week established by the US…
Most Russians like Soviet symbols but lack knowledge about Soviet past – and that is dangerous
A VTsIOM poll shows that the overwhelming majority of Russians have a positive attitude toward Soviet symbols but…
How Ukraine got into such bad shape
It's happened elsewhere. Countries within the former USSR and all Eastern European countries, including those that have already…
Russia’s Victory Day: Basking in The Light of Another’s Glory
This week all over the world people and nations are commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of the…
The Kremlin’s wars in Afghanistan and in Ukraine: ten parallels
The war against Ukraine threatens to have serious consequences for Russia, as was the case for the USSR,…
In opening access to Communist totalitarian archives, Ukraine draws on European experience
In the European Union the first intergovernmental standard governing archival policies and practices was passed fifteen years ago. Ukraine…
Occupation of Crimea repeats Latvia’s occupation by USSR
Latvia’s Second World War history has always been in conflict with the discourse of the Great Patriotic War…