Hello, comrades! My name is Sergei. I was born in the USSR in 1971. Since 1999 I have lived in the USA. Ushanka Show channel was created to share stories as well as my own memories of everyday life in the USSR. My book about arriving in America in 1995 is available on www.sputnikoff.com/ (Russian or English versions) or Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B08DJ7RNTC Please contact me at sergeisputnikoff@gmail.com if you would like to purchase a signed copy of “American Diaries” You can support this project here: www.patreon.com/sputnikoff with monthly donations Support for this channel via PAYPAL: paypal.me/ushankashow Ushanka Show merchandise: teespring.com/stores/ushanka-show-shop If you are curious to try some of the Soviet-era candy and other foodstuffs, please use the link below. www.russiantable.com/imported-russian-chocolate-mishka-kosolapy__146-14.html?tracking=5a6933a9095f9 My FB: facebook.com/sergey.sputnikoff Twitter: twitter.com/ushankashow Instagram: instagram.com/ushanka_show/ Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/The_Ushanka_Show/
Im from Estonia and lived also USSR times. Estonia is WEST country now and we talk about USSR like this dude. So no propaganda from our side. Only Russians talk about USSR like it was best.
My great grandmother was born in Winnipeg Canada to two Polish immigrants, she ended up marrying my great grandfather who was a displaced person from Poland as well, but the strange thing is that they both spoke fluent Ukrainian as well as Polish because of where they were in Winnipeg at the time was just majority Ukrainian and even my great grandmother who was born and raised in Canada had a thick accent
These two are pretty closely related albeit hard to understand in writing cuz Polish has a latin alphabet. A lot of folks fled to Poland during the war and they adjusted to the language pretty quickly
Very informative video. Historically the Russians have always looked down at Ukrainians as inferiors. I hope Sergei that you and your people regain your language, culture and national identity and dignity as a proud nation.
My ex of many years is from the former Soviet Union in Russia Branskaya oblast, near Ukraine and Belarus. I learned Russian from her but I know a lot of people said she spoke Russian like a Ukrainian. Others have said that I speak Russian like a Ukrainian. It’s kind of funny how the dialect is different in certain parts of Russia. I have two boys with her and she’s been too lazy to teach our boys Russian. I try to teach my kids the language and show them Russian movies and music since she has become too Americanized. It’s a shame!
my girl friend is from Odesa and she speaks Ukrainian, Russian, and english. I have learned some ukrainian but i have a hard time speaking it because i have a THICK southern accent, but we have decided that our kids will be learning all 3 languages.
Whoo Whaa Whee Whaa... You too are owning the lazy wife.???!!?? Is a shame that you have such a lazy wife.... You should get a new one.!... I once owned a lazy wife, but she just "died".... someone beat her too much. NOT ME 😉😉, it was my cousin Bilo.😉 Bilo beat her to much & my wife.. SHE DIED.!... But is okay.. I have bought NEW WIFE.!!! SHE IS NIIICE.!!!
Bryansk region had an interesting history. Its western half was part of Ukrainian Cossack state until the 18th century. In the Russian Empire, local peasants’ dialect was first classified as “Lesser Russian” (Ukrainian) first, but then “reclassified” as “Greater Russian”. While, in reality, from what I gather, the dialect was closer to Belarusian language in many respects
Once again, great video Sergey. As someone from outside the Slavic world (Irish) living and working in Belarus and coming into contact and having Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian work colleagues and friends, your observations are spot on. Belarusians love potatoes and vodka, and are hard workers. However they are very reserved but courteous. Russians on the otherhand are more open, crazy and tend to be the life and blood of the party. Ukrainians are very polite. BTW Bulbash is a popular vodka and why Belarusians insist on drinking it, I don't know. It's disgusting. Дикая Утка is my favourite brand. Getting drunk is a good way of catching a glimpse into the Slavic soul.
Yep, dead right - I was in the SU for the first time in 1973. Drink with these amazing people and you get to know them quicker - fantastic people, crap system.
Russians, Serbs and Europeans in general are very sentimental. Imagine being sentimental about your state. In the US that is. Getting teary eyed imagining your states history, it’s role in the revolutionary and civil wars. Well, to most people this is absurd. In Europe on the other hand they’re very tuned into the differences and past events amongst themselves. In a way this powerful sentimentality led to massively beautiful cities like Paris or London. Or led to sophisticated languages, like the language of kings, German. Americans have always had the benefit of not having a history hanging heavy over our heads. We don’t waste much time thinking about being best, above everyone else. Wars were fought for hundreds of years between the cities and states in Europe, and this alone would explain why the leadership would encourage a strong sense of nationalism. Who would fight to the death to protect a strangers place? Serbia is probably the most sentimental. For good reason. They’re on the border between Islam and Christianity.
Please stop using the term “iron curtain”. It was invented by Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister and unfortunately popularized by Winston Churchill.
the same thing here in Romania: if you go to Hungarian-lived part of the country, they will not help you, they will not sell things to you. this stereotype still dominates today
when I go to Secuimea, I talk to them in Romanian but let them know from the very beginning that I am Saxon from Sibiu and unfortunately don't speak Hungarian. Than they have no problem of speaking Romanian at all. If you go there acting stupid, like saying this is Romania you HAVE to speak Romanian, than they suddenly don't understand you. And by the way: for us, Transylvania always comes first. We are first Transylvanians - no matter of which language you speak, and only second we are also Romanian citizens.
I can relate to the Belorussians. I'm from Idaho, the potato capital of the USA. The potato jokes at our expense just never end. I have the unique distinction of being probably the only Idahoan that has other Idahoans making potato jokes at him, just because I owned a potato cannon in middle school.
Your video cleared up some confusion. Before my mother passed away, I showed her pictures of her village in Ukraine as seen on Google maps. She was able to point out the house she was raised in. I also showed her a report in Google maps of a young woman that took pictures (which were posted) in my mother's village . After reading a short discussion of goings-on at a new church (which was pictured), my mother said in a condescending tone that it was in Russian. That confused me as the village was also the young woman's hometown. I now understand why it was in Russian.
A couple of observations I've noted from Ukrainian and Russian immigrants to Canada: My Russian friends identify as Russian regardless of where they grew up. A friend from Kazakhstan says she's Russian, her family moved there during the Soviet days and she immigrated from there. Some Ukrainians I know in Canada, usually 2nd and 3rd generation, are hardcore nationalists and speak Ukrainian. A friend even went to Ukrainian summer camp here in Ontario. I know a few Belorussians and they are all Russian speaking from Minsk. They learned Belarusian in school but never use it day-to-day. They all thought of themselves as Belarusian but I got the feeling they are close to Russians in terms of identity. My friend from Azerbaijan is Russian speaking but identifies as a (former) Soviet citizen first then Azerbaijani like you did as growing up in Ukrainian.
That's because the majority of Ukrainians in Canada are Western Ukrainians. Not central, southern or eastern. Many Ukrainians from Kharkiv and Donetsk in Canada don't associate with the Ukrainian diaspora there. I lived in Canada for over 20 years.
Belarus means white rus. Russia means land of Rus. Belarus isnt really that different from Russian. Its technically the same language but slight different. It's like America and "southern dialect"
@@theblackhundreds7124 bullshit. Another attempt to incorporate belorus. Languages are both slavic, but differences are similar to danish / swedish / norvegian. Its not just dialect. Fuck russia, kisses from gayrope(lithuania, the country that cracked empire of evil (ussr)).
I'm Jewish,born in Moscow. Grandparents were from Odessa, Ukraine. Everyone spoke Russian in Ukraine. Here in the US I'm Russian to Americans,so I feel Russian. In HS we had lots of kids from Russia, Ukraine,Belorussia. We all spoke Russian and were known as Russians to Americans
Awesome video! You have a very honest and real view on life in the former Soviet Union. Unrelated but my Ushanka got a lot of use this past winter and I finally got the face mask for it and it was awesome when it was 0 degrees centigrade out and strong wind but spring is coming finally!
You seemed surprised at the feedback you got in Riga for speaking Russian? I've been to all the 3 Baltic states and almost 3 decades on, the majority of the population hate Russia. They see them as the total representation of the USSR and every time they prefer to say they were occupied by the Soviets, not part of the USSR. The Union is over but these people don't forget
@@manchagojohnsonmanchago6367 , Ethnic German colonists dominated Latvia. In Lithuania it was Polish colonists, and in Estonia -- Swedish. Or at least so many claim. The hatred is basically against the occupying forces, not Russians as people. If it were different, I wouldn't enjoy being there, which I did.
Friend of mine is an ethnic Russian whose parents came to the US as children. He learned Russian from his parents. While in Czechia with the US firm Westinghouse the Czechs spoke English. They began to realize, with his last name, his appearance and how he sometimes knew what people were saying, that he spoke some Slavic language. They finally asked him to talk. They advised him not to use Russki on the street. "Speak in English. We like English". "Russian? We don't like that so much".
I live in a Baltic state, and that's pretty much how I see it. I differentiate between russian people and the government, but know others who don't. The german barons are considered the 700 years of darkness, sometimes changing the tax collector, but we see how they have changed. Russia, on the other hand...
About 200 years ago, someone in Russia said, "People are like sausages, they carry whatever you fill them with." So here too, in the Soviet Union there was lots of propaganda about all Soviet people being equal, friends, and in particular the Slavic nations: Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. So the relations between Russians and Ukrainians in Kiev were very good. Yes, there were ethnic jokes, which everyone enjoyed and no one took personally. The real hatred was reserved for Jews and "Caucasians" (Georgians, Armenians, Azeris, Chechens, etc. -- in Kiev they were all usually called "Georgians.") The schools were a strange back-and-forth dance. I was in a Russian class, which meant all subjects were in Russian, except Ukrainian language and literature. However the year after me the school switched to Ukrainian for all subjects except Russian language and literature. However yet, my cousin, much younger than me, had no Ukrainian at all, neither language nor literature. Go figure. Some people, however, do not want to forget their old history, culture or identity. This particularly relates to peoples who were conquered in 1939-1940 as a part of Molotov-Ribbentrop pact: Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Moldovans and Western Ukrainians. This is why if one spoke to Lithuanians or Estonians in their Republics, one could be ignored. (Not Latvia, it was about 50% Russian). The thing with Ukraine, though, everyone knows that Western Ukraine is nationalistic and Eastern Ukraine is more Russified. However, no one can draw a border between the two. There is no border, it's a slow transition. These days some politicians in Ukraine propagate some anti-Russian sentiments, and this new filling has penetrated the old people-sausages to some extent. But it's much worse in Russia, where anti-Ukrainian propaganda is massive and brutal, and where there is no freedom to stand up against it.
> Mom wishes having a Ukrainian daughter in law > Son marries with an American girl Sorry for the mom, things tends to succeed in a random and unexpected path. P.D.: The Russian sterereotypical jokes about being drunk and belic people olded like wine
Depends on. Rock and similar stuff was forbidden. It was played "underground". At least till late 80s - early 90s. Then it became Partly legal. Search band Kino, I think. Also there was famous other bad, they been rock band singing about problems of USSR. and where kinda illegal. But everybody loved them in that period. Can't remember the name. I am not from that era, my parents are.
yeah, its crazy how the language switched back to ukrainian so fast after the collapse. i remember the only place i ever really heard ukrainian being spoken in kiev was at the bazar...but im sure it was more prolific outside the city like at selos. loving your videos! its really taking me back, thanks.
Hey, I just stumbled across your channel a couple of days ago, and I really enjoy it. I’m an American living in Central Europe, and I visited Ukraine in 1996. I have to say that it was different, and I felt I could never live there, but the people were generous to a fault, and they never gave me trouble because I am black. When I was there, I was in Kiev, Odessa, Nikolaev. And Yalta. The Crimea was the best part of the trip, but it enjoyed all of it, and have good memories of it. Watching your videos brings back a few memories. I enjoy listening to you speak about Soviet times. I remember when I arrived there, my host told me that he wished he could have told me “welcome to the USSR “ instead of “welcome to Ukraine “. But I enjoy your channel, even though I discovered it late.
Sergey, I love your personal take on Ukraine, a very important topic. My mother's parents were from Western Ukraine and I learned some Ukrainian from them. I don't like the Western Ukrainian ultra-nationalism, but Western Ukrainian national language, Ukrainian, used to be seen as a 'peasant' language. Back in the 80s I was living in Australia where I met many Jewish Ukrainians from Odessa. When I approached them speaking in Ukrainian they would cut me off and say sth like: Не надо говорить на этом деревенском языке. Вы образованный человек. Говорите по-русски! That behaviour plus other historical facts could have generated Ultra Ukrainian nationalism. Thank you kindly for your video.
That tactic that the Russia used in Crimea with the tartars was also used in the east of Ukraine which has most of the mineral rich and valuable lands, they supplanted Ukrainian culture and language with Russian's which is why you find the grandparents living in Kiev with heavy accents when speaking Russian. So when there was a push to ukrainize Ukraine again it was a natural push to reclaim its citizens of its own land and furthermore with a history of indentured servitude of the Ukrainian people calling Ukrainian language a peasant language is derogatory but with some respect accurate and a constant reminder of who made us peasants in the first place leading to that ultra nationalism you mentioned.
@@yuriywankiewicz6689 How long ago did the Russians "russify" the east? There were Russians living in the Donets basin during Tsarist times. What was so important in the East that it required shoving Ukrainians away in Soviet times? I don't see it, but I"m happy to listen. In contrast the Galicia was not even Ukrainian at all but Polish until after the Great War. I'm a descendant of Irish peoples. I understand colonization. I did not grow up speaking Gaelic but English. I have no known relatives who are Gaelic speakers. I cannot bring back the old days. I'm a product of the injustices. I can't exist while dialing back the clock. There comes a time when "justice" is delayed for so long that it's pointless. When it's just chauvinism for the sake of pandering to people who are dispossessed for other reasons than the injustice. I could understand if the UAF were shelling insurgents. Poroshenko said, "We will win this war by denying them work, by denying their elderly pensions and by making their children shelter in basements". That's not engaging invaders. That's terrorism.
@@jamallabarge2665 why would a powerful country want to control the valuable region of their weaker neighboring countries, good question- the answer is to keep them weak and not a threat. Colonization might be a historical thing in Ireland but it's going on right now in Ukraine as a hot war. Idk how you can bring this conflict up in the name of history when I'm referring to events that are relevant to the present situation. As for what Ukrainians tactics are I'm not here to defend, first time I'm hearing about what poroshenko said
@@yuriywankiewicz6689 You can find Poroshenko's speech easily - Poroshenko, their children will sit in cellars". The children of Russian invaders? Did the Russian Army bring their elderly with them to collect pensions from Kiev? The name of the areas affected says it all, "Areas of Terrorist Operation". Not "Areas of Russian Occupation". The Ukrainian Rada chose to pass a law that made using Russian a sort of disloyalty. They allowed Oligarchs to fund punishers. These punishers were sent into provinces to make people behave. The USA has no official language. Never had one. Our government assists people in many different languages. Ukraine chose to have an official language. They chose all of this "Ukraine for Ukrainians" business. One last thing - it's not my job as a US taxpayer or a member of the unorganized militia to protect Ukraine. I don't speak Ukrainian. I do not hold a Ukrainian passport. Victoria Nuland of the Obama Administration helped broker the 2014 Maidan government. I did not vote for her. I do not support her or that foolish man who was her boss. My government has not signed a treaty of mutual military defense with the Government of Kiev. We did sign a legal accord with a previous government in 1998. For legal issues. Trump got impeached for fiddling with military aid. Why is the US giving Ukraine military aid? The Budapest memorandum promised to support Ukraine if it surrendered its nuclear weapons. The memorandum also promised the Russians that we would not go an inch east if the Soviets left Germany. We bombed Belgrade. We invited Poland and other former Warsaw Pact members to join NATO. We broke the Budapest memorandum. Worse, we have shown that the Communists were right - we became vile imperialists. We believe that Might Makes Right. We need to stop. This isn't our Planet.
It is lovelly to see how you explained this topic in a trully and honestly 100% neutral way. I met so many people from ex-USSR and when talking this issues all start claiming to be neutral but most inevitably fall into defending their nationality and attacking the others. You did exactly the opposite and you made an exemple of how people should approach this topics. Congratulations, your videos are ammong my favourite!
My mother-in-law is from Krasnodar, the land of the Cossacks. Her father was a Russian and her mother was Ukranian. According to her, there is no difference between Russians and Ukrainians.
The others have already stated their disagreement with your mother in law so no need for me to repeat it. Instead, I might venture WHY your mother in law said that - that as a good Soviet Russian, she had been sufficiently indoctrinated to be arrogant enough to ignore the national sentiments of people from those regions - and was, instead, merely being totally honest about the fact that those former nations Russia had absorbed and assimilated no longer existed. And that to call them "Autonomous Republics" (laughing at any notion they had any autonomy whatsoever, certainly regarding anything that mattered) was joke that everyone knew was nonsense. In the same way that they all knew - but were cowardly and feckless enough to ignore and merely go along with - what a load of nonsense Communism was. Remind me again of the saying "they pretend to pay us - while we pretend to work" - well, I think that sums it up😂 I think that, while modern Russians - certainly the ones still there - still secretly would rather pretend to work - and pretend that a quarter of them don't have to go down the bottom of the garden to take a dump - in other words, scrape along the bottom - even as they know Putain is shafting them - simply because it's easier. And even though they know it's wrong, still secretly DO have this strange superiority complex - despite being a nation of serfs and peasants - that Russia is entitled to be big, brash and powerful. I fear that in the forthcoming 12 to 24 months, they are about to be disabused of that view highly unceremoniously - if she's still alive today and whenever the future point at which Ukraine emerges from the blood and dirt of battle victorious, I would love to hear her views on the matter then......
they never was "sisters of mercy" they made genocides and etnic cleans in Galitzia and other zones, the same coud be apply to the Ucranians, there are no "total good and total bads", all parts have this dark history and shames
Lviv is my hometown and I lived there from 1959 to 1974. Listening to your recollections has opened up my perspective on Ukrainian / Russian nationalism within Ukrainian borders. For example, I never understood how someone that spoke Russian but identified them self as Ukrainian. Good work, keep it up. As a side note. We spoke Ukrainian in our home. I attended Ukrainian school and for what ever reason most of my friends were Ukrainian. With in 15 months or so after moving to US I noticed a significant loss in my ability to speak Russian fluently. 40+ years later my Ukrainian language skills have diminished significantly. Scott is now my first name and Ihor is now my middle name.
I had two Ukrainian refuges living in ny home for some time in the beginning of the war, two women and a one had a 6 year old daughter. They where both Russian speaking, (from Kharkiv and Donbas) but both wanted to switch to Ukrainian, because they hate to speak Russian after all whats done.
again, this has many echos for me in Wales and relationship - diglossia - with Welsh and English language. Many differences, of course, but it was also the situation here where people moving from the Welsh-speaking countryside would change to English in the cities, or even town. This happened with the poet Dylan Thomas. Both his parents spoke Welsh, he was given a Welsh name (Dylan), from the 1921 census we now leart that he spoke Welsh as a 7 year old, but then spoke no Welsh (he said he'd never spoken Welsh, even). Most of his friends in the city of Swansea had similar backgrounds, Swansea was an English-speaking city and Welsh speakers moving there didn't pass the Welsh language on to their children. There were no Welsh medium schools, everything was in English (Welsh had no status) and the Welsh-speaking chapels were almost the only place where Welsh was given any status - which explains why chapels were so important in Welsh-speaking society until recently. In Wales today, much has changed - demographically a huge number of people from England have moved into what were Welsh-speaking areas, but also Welsh is becoming more normal as a language of education. So, at the moment about 20-25% of children in Wales go to Welsh-medium state education where all (or almost all) subjects and administration etc is in Welsh, the others attend English-medium schools where Welsh is taught as a 'foreign' language (as well as a true foreign language, usally French). But the English medium schools, now, thanks to the the Welsh Parliament (as semi-autonomous part of the UK) have presented ways to improve more Welsh in these schools and to do so in a more senstive and usefull way. Train announcement are now in Welsh and English ... though some English jouranlists or MPs complain, one this week. twitter.com/NationCymru/status/1484823631402262531 Like in Kyiv, we in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, had to protest for Welsh-medium education and respect for the national language.
You said 'not to bother teaching Russian in schools at all'. Really? So, you suggest that several million ethnic Russians in Ukraine have no right to learn their native language in state schools? And even more millions of Ukrainians for whom Russian is mother tongue, too? Should people in Ireland, Scotland and Wales be denied the right to learn English in schools? Especially ethnic English population. 'Ah, it's different, you see'. Double standards are double standards.
@@maria.5974 I just guess many people won't want to learn Russian as a second language and will opt for English. Once Russia starts to give full linguistic rights to the minorities within the RF then I'll start listening to Putinists "concerns".
I am from Odessa but I live in Switzerland. I can remember a little bit of time during the Soviet Union. One of the best things was probably literacy, even now we have higher literacy than most of the Western countries. In Odessa, they still speak Russian but we are pro Ukraine and proud of it. Everything was cheap but the time during Perestroyka was very hard and weird. People had Jeans for 100 USD but the official salary was 10 USD or so. Growing up in Soviet Russia was weird but also amazing, you had a very deep bond between people, you could visit your friends without even calling them, you could just go by. I also remember these great summer days where all the children after school we were outside and all the Babushkas sitting and chatting next to the entrance to the building. We were poor and we never had any play consoles so we could only play with ourselves, we had great adventures and very awesome love stories. Life was easy and great and with any problems. Now I have money, car but the coldness of the West is still making me sad, I wish I could bring back one of these glorious days, even for one evening. The sound of the waves and sound of crickets is still in my memory until this day.
@1manuscriptman I was small, but this kind of issues was true. As a child everything is fine. I asked my mother and she does not miss the Soviet Union.
5 лет назад
I'm curious about your surname. If you're from Odessa and Rothweiler is your surname; are you from the vanishing Ashkenazi community?
@Freddy H There are good and bad things, I still visit Ukraine time to time. War, poverty, corruption it's very hard but people are seeking for freedom, big brother Russia wants to control us but in spirit we are free and proud European. Similar like China and Taiwan, I think you can relate to it
Putin's wars against Ukraine has probably done more than anyone to undermine the Russian language in Ukraine. Had Russia invested in great movies and honest tv drama (like Israel's Fauda) and in tech games, then Russian language and RF itself would be a very attractive and culturally powerful place. Millions spoke Russian as a second language, it's an easier language for Poles, Czechs, Croats etc to learn, and Russia could genuinely have created a balance to American and English hegemony. But Putin is stuck in 19th and early 20th century thinking and he may win a battle in Ukraine but will lose the war. I'd expect Ukraine in next ten years to make English the second language in their schools, and like the Baltics and old Cominter states, not to bother teaching Russian at all, except badly as a third language, somewhere below German. Putin has killed Russian as an international and interethnic language.
I think it would be interesting to get your perspective on the whole issue of how technically Ukraine and Belarus were considered as separate "countries" from the USSR, each with its own representation in the UN. Many are not familiar with how those 2 republics each had a seat in the UN. In order to qualify as "countries" they had to have "independent" militaries, diplomatic services, etc. I'm curious about how this was perceived by the average citizen in Ukraine and Belarus during Soviet times.
@@pettahify Interesting comparison. Stalin made a comparison with the British Commonwealth, saying that if Canada and Australia could be considered "independent" even though they both were (and still are) subjects of the British monarch, then why couldn't Ukraine and Belarus be ruled by him but yet still be considered "independent". Because of the post-WWII environment nobody really cared about the ridiculousness of it. To your point many thought it unfair that France and the UK, both previously part of the EU, each had a seat on the UNSC yet were both under Brussels.
This is an especially good video! Several topics touched on once again! I see your other commentators are asking interesting questions like the relationship between the Russians and the Polish. The relationship between the Russians and the Finnish. I would like to see those videos myself! Now my two cents..... this video I want to watch a few more times! Second.... I remember a Russian guy I met who had spent time in Lativa. He did compare it to an American being in Iran! That did floor me! Last but not least, I am willing to bet that your friend who visited Ukraine did not bang anybody! LOL
From a Finn: Russians are our dear and near neighbors and the relationship has included the good, the bad and the ugly through the years. Mutual rivalry, cultural exchange, mutual trade and tourism interests... We got a lot of cultural and gastronomic influence from Russia, as well as from our other neighbor (and ex colonial master) Sweden. A great mix :)
@@AleronWolf Most people in both nations remember the Winter War well, at least in Finland we do :) Don't know if that is dealt with in Russian literature and art and to what extent, but here it has been the common topic for decades..
@@NarnianLady I have been in a military museum in Russia(VVS, Monino near Moscow), they had the Winter War under section called "1930s: defending borders of the USSR" :):)
Ukrainian-Russian history was brutal in the early years of the Soviet Union. Lots of the peoples the USSR had a rough time with the Soviet government. I bet it was kind of brutal to go through that. Holodomor was, a tragedy that hurt Ukraine unfairly. But the fall of USSR has still yet to bring about living standards that were even close to pre collapse standards in all the Republics. Russia has recovered the best because it had the resources to build an economy quickly. Many rely on the architecture and infrastructure of the Soviet Union to house them. The Soviet Union still serves many rural republics. With globalization going, will we ever hit the point where are living standards are worse than those of people in the USSR?
I myself had an a girl friend from Russia Moscow we met at a bar I was in New York at the time. When I had placed my order for a Budweiser and from there she noticed how different I sounded. From there she told me you sound a lot different from everyone else in New York. I told her well darling that because I'm from Texas and I told her you also sound different too darling where you from? She told from Russia then she asked me where you from originally. I'm American I have blood line of the first Nation a then she asked me what's that mean. I told her on my mother's side I'm part Comanche basically part Native American on my Father's side I'm part English, Irish, Scottish descent.
@@5roundsrapid263 A lot of Southerners have manners, courtesy, politeness. They are not always pushy or rude. Except for Texans. Texas is its own place. Think of Lyndon Baines Johnson.
Jamal Labarge I’m from the South and have family in Texas. There is a difference, but it’s very slight, especially in East Texas. After all, Southerners settled Texas. Sam Houston was originally governor of Tennessee.
I enjoy your videos because they give me insight about a what life was like in the Soviet Union. I like you "hybrid" comment, I my self am a hybrid. I am a son of two nation's.
Man, this is hilarious! As a westerner of Polish parents, while I learn something new, each time I catch one of your shows, this territory is quite familiar to me. Funny thing, while my rellies in the old country had no shortage of Russian jokes and anecdotes, I never heard one about Ukraine. I'm curious about that, maybe Poles had no big gripes about Ukrainians, although I imagine that may not have been the case in the other direction. Taras Bulba is possibly not the most historically accurate of movies, but it pissed my dad right off - "put your faith in your sword and your sword in the Pole!" among other things. But then, he was baffled by Monty Python.
The Poles have good reason to resent Ukrainians. Maybe that's why they didn't joke about them. It might depend on where in Poland they are from. During WWII Ukrainian Nationalists killed over 220,000 Poles and Polish Jews in the areas of Western Ukraine taken from Poland in 1939. It was brutal. For nearly 10 years after WWII the Ukrainian Nationalists waged a guerrilla war (backed by the US and Britain) in Western Ukraine and parts of Poland. Many people died, including Polish civilians and soldiers. Now Poland and Ukraine are best buddies it seems.
@@Pushing_Pixels Yeah, man. I remain open to continuing my education. Among other things, such as those you mention, that certain Ukrainians were guards in Nazi camps is deffo a fly in the ointment. Perhaps it's more accurate to talk about 'some Poles' and 'some Ukrainians'. To complicate things, part of my family hails from a part of Poland which is now in Ukraine. Sure, we're all Slavs, but a shared heritage didn't always prevent the exchange of violence.
@@Pushing_Pixelsand Poles destroyed lots of Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches and massacred Ukrainian and Byelorussian Orthodox people. No country has a monopoly on suffering
@@Pushing_Pixels Pretty much every occupied country waged bloody resistance to the Soviet invaders for ten years after their re-occupation by the eastern invaders. Sure, the Soviets wanted to portray them as bitter dead ender former nazis, because that made crushing the lives of the occupied easier. Yet they were, from Estonia to Romania, all opposed to their Soviet wannabe masters.
Thank you for viewpoint. My son-in-law is from Belarus, but he seems to "identify" if that is the current trendy word, as Russian. After talking to his mother, I find out that he is actually about one third Belarussian, one third Russian, and one third Ukrainian. So what gives!? Slavic people seem to intermarry a lot, but they get very testy about what their nationality is. Does it come down to language? You are Ukrainian by both of your parents, yet Russian seems to be your main language, so are you "Russian"? I'm not even going to touch on the current war, because it is a bigger game than we are being told, being played by players both seen and unseen. Thank you again for your video.
Doesn't come to language or ethnicity. Rn is more about culture. If you were born to russian parents in Ukraine and speak russian but hate USSR and everything it represents, if you hate the empire that Russia has become after the 90s, you're likely ro identify as a Ukrainian
That country was SO BIG (U.S.S.R. was 15 countries) so it makes perfect sense to have ALL speak the same language, Easier to rule a multinational government when all speak,read,and write the same language. I could only imagine the chaos that would ensue if each of our states spoke it's own unique language, 1 Government but 50 languages, Never work XD.
You could have 1 language for the central administration and each state could still have it's own language. The global languages we have today are a lot of the time standardised varieties which have undergone some process called "dialect levelling". The U.S.S.R could have done something like adopt one language for all the federal institutions, the warsaw pact & the COMECON. Likewise the U.S.A could probably do something like that, with a requirement that federal employees become fluent in that language.
It works at certain point Former Yugoslavia deal with it before Tito's death. Today places like Belgium, Canada or Switzerland can deal with multi-language governance. Even now USA has no official language and isn't rare to have many people on Government positions attending citizens in many languages
I stumbled upon this Channel. I really enjoyed it. There is a big Polish, Ukrainian, and Lithuanian and some miles from here a heavy Russian population. The Ukraine's here are really anti-Soviet AND anti-Russian.
I would be interested to know what your mother said when you told her you are marrying an American. *:-)* I'm enjoying watching all of your videos. So much interesting information in your stories. Thanks for making them.
My grandfather came to the US from a small village near Kiev. He spoke English with a heavy Russian accent. The village was destroyed by the Cossacks (killing my great grandfather). A video about the Cossacks in the Ukraine would be interesting.
2:34 my family is from Zhytomir and My grandfather from Androshovka. I wish you would do some videos on my parents home town, it’s really nice and it’s a really wonderful place I have to add that the drive from Kiev to Zhytomir by Bus is a nice view and wonderful wonderful time
Your story of Kiev was all Russian reminds me of our dialect of German in Pennsylvania. The dialect is really similar to Volga German. Mostly now religious communities speak it, I use the language in the countryside when I can. It is funny how everywhere a there is s German name but all pronounced with English accents.
Ian McMurchie wow very cool German Settlements are in Eastern Europe Central Asia North America and all over south and Central America and Tianjin China and guini and south west afrika
I have a friend from Wisconsin who is 6th generation to German immigrants. His grandfather speaks English but curses in German as he was brought up speaking both German and English at home but he never taught any German to his kids. Up until the 1960s there were schools all across the mid-west and north-western USA that taught primarily in German (mostly using the Rhineland dialect). There are practically no German speakers left today from the vast German diaspora living in the USA, and I honestly think it's a shame.
@@elimalinsky7069 Apparently, there are Texas Germans still using an "Americanized" version of German. The video I saw appeared to be mostly older folks though.
I just found out about 2 weeks ago that my family has been mispronouncing our Gaelic last name, that has a Norman-ized spelling from hundreds of years ago, for a very long time
I think that it's called "Dietsch". I have colleagues from Germany. I suggested that they go out to visit. They reported back that the Plain Folk (aka Amish) did not speak standard German.
I moved to US in 1998. My mom's side are Ukrainians my dad's are Russians, never was talked about it, don't think it mattered. All are our ppl. Mom, brother's fam still live in Novockerkassk, Russia. Aunt, cousins lived in Ukraine, aunt moved to Crimea and stayed after, cousin still live in Kiev, Ukraine. Everyone is separated now, sadly.
There is a deli near me called Kiev Deli. They have things from Ukraine and basically every Slavic culture, like Polish and Croatian stuff. They have smoked salo, and it is amazing. It's basically raw bacon fat. Something is wrong with anybody who doesn't like salo.
Your experience being in Riga, speaking Russian, is the opposite of my experience being Norwegian and trying to speak Latvian outside od the Old Town (1997). I came into a shop and spoke Latvian, they replied in Russian. When I said "I don't understand Russian, they got angry and just turned their backs at me. In my local grocery store the same thing happened until I was able to, in Russian, tell them I am Norwegian and then, in Latvian saying I never learned Russian. After that it was all fine. They all were born an grew up in Riga. They all spoke Latvian. The problem was that they thought I was Latvian, and that I did not want to speak the language of the "master race".
Lol! I can hear your Michigan accent a tiny little bit in your English, I know you probably have not always lived there but I hear that their accent is really contagious!!
Talking about the fact when Khrushchev gave Crimea to Ukraine it is worth mentioning that at the same time Russia received Taganrog region in return. This detail is always left out in this case. It was a swap.
Two future topics you should address! 1) do you feel sad that Ukrainian SSR was one of the most powerful,respected nations on earth and now it is a hole that is plagued by unemployment and drug abuse? Do you feel ashamed of modern Ukraine compared to when it was a world super power? 2) do you enjoy paying taxes,health insurance,rent and high living costs living in the US? Or do you think it's a scam? PS: I know we have debated before,but I've always admired your integrity to answer subscribers questions. Thank you comrade
These are unabashedly loaded questions. lol who “enjoys” paying taxes? No one, it’s something people do because they understand the necessity of public services, not because they enjoy it. Also calling anyone’s motherland a “hole” is just fucking rude no matter what the economic situation currently is.
@@UshankaShow 1) you're grandparents evolved from a third world backwater plagued by famine and illiteracy to become pioneers of the space age and the second biggest economy in the world within 30 year's. To put that into context,it's the equivalent of the Gambia being a world super power 30 year's from now... And in any case I never asked about your grandparents. I asked about YOU. 2) free healthcare doesn't exist in the US. You mean you have been tricked into believing the company you work for doesn't subsidize healthcare by taking it from your wages? Do you pay for subscriptions? Operations? Did paying for operations in the Ukraine bankrupt you? Did it bankrupt anyone you knew?
@@caseycu It's an objective question though isn't it? They didn't pay income tax and the Ukraine is a mess right now and it has been since 1991. It's not like I'm lying Are you from the US?Or UK? If so,how would you like being a world leader one year to becoming an almost third world destitute nation overnight? Would you be resentful? Or would you just leave the country?
@@UshankaShow 1) so because your grandparents where well to do PEASANTS does that apply as a blanket statement to my original question? I never asked about your grandparents. And in any case the vast majority of peasantry revolved around perpetual starvation during the tsar'ist rule. Could you answer my original question? Is it sad witnessing your homeland go from world super power to relevant obscurity? 2) healthcare insurance is deductible from wage acquisition isn't it? If you didn't have to pay for health insurance,you would earn more annually wouldn't you? Again,I appreciate the reply.
SMERSH what is the difference between getting paid 600 a month without having to pay taxes and health insurance, or getting paid 1000 dollars a month with 30% taxes and 10% for health insurance? The government and health care get their cut either way. One way you can see how much of your labor goes to pay for them and the other way you don’t.
For some reason you are mixing up nationalism with chaunism. Nationalism by itself does not have any negative connotation, it is just political will of a group of people to have their own nation. On the other hand it can take quite extreme forms when it is mixed with chaunism and racism and so on
@@UshankaShow it means that he is a chauvinistic russian nationalist. Soviet propaganda distorted original meaning of the term "nationalism" in order to keep the empire in place, because nationalism creates separatism. So Ukrainian nationalists became "Nazis"
I SO ENJOY ALL YOUR SHOWS SERGI.. WOULD YOU PLEASES PUT THE DATES ON YOUR PICTURES, AND WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF EACH ONE..? THANK YOU ! GREAT VIDEO-ENJOYED!
Fascinating, I now understand more about the Russia/Ukraine situation, but I don’t understand why Putin wants to dominate the region. The photos of normal life are great! As a photographer, I really like the way that statues of Lenin are included, particularly the shot of the group of Young Pioneers ( please talk about them sometime, and the special salute). Is Sputnikov your real name? I think you are having a little joke, or your family has the same name as the first orbital satellite, for some reason.
I was reading about how most of Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire under the Czar for at least 200 years before the Revolution, and it was called Malorussia or 'Little Russia' or 'Lower Russia'. Like how Belarussia was 'White Russia'. So in the Russian mindset, ethnically and culturally Ukraine and Belarus were Russian. Maybe a comparison could be England, Wales, Scorland and Ireland during the same time frame. The UK government pushed education in English instead of Gaelic or Welsh, and centralising authority in London much like Czars pushed Russification on Ukraine and Belarus. So Russia viewed those countries as Russian, while England viewed the others as British. And then all the people starting intermarrying and mixing and moving around within the union. There was a similar issue about religious affiliations and speaking the dominant language (Russian or English depending which area you are looking at, or like how in the UK it was considered better to be protestant so it was difficult for catholic Irish, like how it would be different if you were Orthodox in Ukraine). If we see the history like that, we can understand why Russia has a lot of political interest in Ukraine and Belarus. Imagine if Russia and Ireland started discussing defence treaties and stationing heaps of Russian troops in Ireland. Everyone would understand when London started complaining about that. But when we try to stick NATO troops in Ukraine, we expect Russia to be like, oh that's fine. It's totally understandable that Russia views Ukraine and Belarus in its sphere of influence, even with all the bad things that have happened. Just like with Britain and Ireland, Britain still views Ireland in its sphere of influence despite all the bad blood and history and the ongoing issues between them. Something like 1/4 of English people have Irish relatives, I'm sure lots of Ukrainians and Russians have family on either side of the border. I'm not saying Ukraine is Russian or that Ireland is British, but that we need to be mindful that things can't be simplified so easy to say these people are this and those people are that. We are all tied up together by history. Would love to hear your thoughts.
Russians have no business in Ukraine. It was illegal occupation from 1917 to 1991. That's it. Every one who claims otherwise is justifying aggression of Russia against an independent Ukraine. Ukrainians want foreign bases like those of NATO t obe defended against Russians.
Can you believe this show gets interrupted by ads? Funny how in one video he was talking about commercials and the first one he ever saw and what he thought about it... 5mins in and the video gets interrupted with a commercial LOL. In murika I believe most people would still thinking nationalism is a type of racism. I do like hearing your videos, please keep em coming.
@@UshankaShow come on now, there’s a far bigger difference between Koreans and Chinese (both linguistically and ethnically) than there is between Russian and Ukrainian.
When I got a QSL card in the 1970's from the shortwave station Radio Kiev, it said "Radio Kyiv". I later found out that all of the text is in Ukrainian instead of Russian.
Thank you for sharing your personal story. This explains quite well the strange term "russian speaking Ukrainian " Some thing that's hard to understand from outside
There should be nothing rong with telling the truth. I love your show I can see how much the U.S. and Russian people are very much alike in menny ways.
Thank you for the explanations. I'm sorry for getting a bit quarrelsome below. I trained to fight the Warsaw Pact. I figured after the people who wanted to bring me death for my Class Origins stopped running the USSR that we would be friends. I still want friendship. Real friendship, not Russia jumps when the US says "Jump!". Respect for other human beings. No more or less. I'm sick of aggression. So, my apologies.
Mr John Wayne Chess Burger 🍔. Good video program you have. I'm in muskegon michigan,west of grand rapids michigan. I Like seeing michigan people making it good . Keep it up 👍👍💯💯🍔🍔🍔
Regards from an Spanish communist! Very interesting point of view, it helps a lot to understand how we failed in the past and how we can build great things nowadays with respect and comradery
I'm from Lithuania and we call Belarusians like that too bulbashai but we don't call baltics and same shit in ryga too with my stepdad if they hear Lithuanian they become so happy
