President Volodymyr Zelensky asked his prime minister to consider whether “Russia” should change its name to “Moscovy” in Ukrainian vernacular. A history professor says it is an attempt to humiliate the Putin regime.
“Muscovy,” or “Moscovyga” in Russian, was a name sometimes given to the Russian Empire before Peter the Great modernized the country.
A petition in Ukraine proposes that Russia be called “Moscow” and that the Russian Federation (which is Russia’s official name) be called the “Moscow Federation”.
After the measure received more than 25,000 signatures, the president must look into it, and Zelensky asked Prime Minister Denys Jemhall to consider the motion, according to reports. Novaya Gazeta Europe.
– The question requires ample elaboration in terms of the historical and cultural context and in relation to possible outcomes in international law. I have asked the prime minister to look into such a possibility, Zelensky says according to Novaja Gazeta Europe.
Professor Emeritus Christian Gerner at Lund University commented on the proposal as follows to VG:
– Zelenskyj will assert that ancient Russia – founded in Kiev at the end of the eighth century – is the origin of today’s Ukraine and belongs to Europe.
– He is trying to delegitimize Russia, the history professor believes.
– What do you mean?
– He wants a language in which Ukraine would be seen as the original, civilized Russia, and Putin’s Moscow state would be something completely different. It’s an attack on Putin.
– This is a matter of existence for Ukraine. They will change our understanding of what Ukraine is. That Ukraine is the “real” country.
Is it an attempt to humiliate Putin?
– yes i will. Putin believes that Ukraine does not exist. And now Ukraine responds with the same coin.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded forcefully to Zelensky’s statement:
– Further evidence that Zelensky is trying to make Ukraine anti-Russian, according to TASS cable.
Former President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy head of the powerful National Security Council, goes further than Zakharova as usual. on him Telegram page He predicts what Russia will respond to.
– The great Nazis in Kiev will learn about the issue of renaming Russia to Muscovy. Well what can I say…
Medvedev writes that two of the usual Russian surnames for Ukraine, Khokhlandija and Malorossija (“Little Russia”) are not enough:
– Schweinisch Bandera-Reich, suggests Medvedev – in German – and perhaps he will try to call Nazi Ukraine in this way. “Bandera” is the name of the controversial Ukrainian nationalist and independent activist Stepan Bandera (1909-1959), who is constantly highlighted as a symbol of fascist views in Ukraine.
Professor Sven G. Holzmark previously commented for VG about the Russians’ attempts to link Germany and Ukraine to Nazism and World War II.
The war in Ukraine has been going on since 2014. On February 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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