biggish data

Lord of The Rings

In Russia we usually compare him to Dobby from Harry Potter.
Posted Image

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-14 21:05:00

Russian Tourist Visa vs Homestay Visa

To get a homestay visa a Russian citizen, who is an invitation party, should go to OVIR and apply for an official invitation letter. It can take up to 1-1,5 months just to obtain the invitation letter. Your wife won't be able to do that since she's in the US, but her parents might be able to...
Anyway, a homestay visa is only better if you plan to stay in Russia for longer than 30 days (but less than 90 days).

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-19 14:49:00

The problems with the businessmen put in jail is that they are thieves too. They just refused to share, that's it. If they weren't thieves, it would've been a lot harder to put them to jail.
As for teaching history - it is taught in the way that's good for the government. And it is valid for the USA as well. Maybe, killing Indians is not the case, but there is soooo much stuff that can be misinterpreted...
BTW, nobody tells Russian kids that what Stalin did was in any way OK. We're taught that he was killing Ukrainians, Caucasians etc. along with Russians, while in Ukraine they believe that Russian people hated Ukrainians and that's why they killed a bunch of them. NO. Everyone suffered.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-23 11:42:00

I wish P&R would stay in P&R.

This forum is for guns and pie.

Don't worry, it will turn into guns and pie eventually :star:

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-23 09:14:00

They're racists just like those NASCAR fans that booed Mrs. Obama because everyone knows, if you boo a politician... you're racist.

Peope are getting more and more disatisfied and I am actually hearing from people I know that they are going to vote. Maybe not for a candidate, but to simply cross out all options on the ballot to show dissatisfaction. Before, I never really heard anyone outside of academic circles discuss politics and people were apathetic. Now people seem more pissed off.

Right. I actually have been doing that since my 1st elections, too bad I can't "vote" this time, since I'm in the US, but I'm not registered in the Embassy here.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-22 16:04:00

I would say more - while Russian people disapprove of what happened in Lybia (thinking it happened cause of the Western plan, not because Lybian people wanted it so much), it can still happen in Russia.
There are more and more people, who dislike the regime. They can't organize civil protests, because you have to obtain a permission for that and the government will never let people organize a protest that might be dangerous for the government. That's why sometimes things happen the way it happened on Manezhnaya Square last year.
If you read Russian blogs, Russian forums etc. you'll understand that there is a possibility that big protests are going to happen. Not now, but in 10-15-maybe 20 years from now. Maybe 30 years from now. It's older generation, that likes Putin. My generation (and I'm Russian) does not. I don't think that future generations will like him or politicians like him.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-22 13:40:00

I disagree that Russia will end up like Egypt or Libya - from what I understand about Russia and its History and People's Culture there is more in common with Europe and parts West than the Middle East or Northern Africa ...

How does that help to avoid a revolution?
There were the Decembrists, there was the year 1905 and then 1917, if nothing changes, there might be the year 20-something.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-22 12:10:00

I think the really surprising part of that story is that Tsar Putin found out he is not beloved by all. I'm sure they are viewing the video of the event to find out who was there.

I don't think so. It's def. not a surprise, for a while now people have been posting negative opinions about Putin all over the internet, including vkontakte using their real names, which makes finding the posters really easy.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-22 11:57:00

It is. But that doesn't mean it's a democracy. The other side of that coin is that the US is less of a democracy than most Americans want to acknowledge.

But the reality is that Putin will win and nobody really has a shot at changing that. Not because people aren't allowed to vote or because those votes aren't actually counted but because nobody who would actually provide serious opposition is allowed to compete (see Khodorkovsky, see Prokhorov, see Medvedev).

But how is that so very different from the US. We may not know who the next president will be, but there is a short list and in the end, the result of the election will not greatly affect the direction of the country. Even if someone with truly different ideas were elected (Ron Paul, for instance), bureaucracy, seniority, and corruption will make sure that nothing actually changes. Do you really think that anyone could shut down government departments or balance the budget? Democracy is an illusion, and not only in the FSU.

Well said. I agree completely.
Although, I think, some time in future, in Russia it might end like it did in Egypt or Libya.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-22 10:57:00

When Vladimir Putin jumped into the ring to congratulate the winner of a bloody martial arts fight and was greeted with a cascade of boos from a large part of the 20,000-plus crowd, the experience seemed just this once to set him back on his heels, if only for a moment.

Throughout much of the world, politicians can expect to provoke the boo-birds when they show up at sports events, but Sunday evening’s bout — shown live on national television — was a first for Russia’s authoritarian prime minister. He recovered and managed to say his piece, but by Monday the Russian blogosphere was alight with arguments, put-downs, debunkings and catcalls.

Full story here:
Putin booed by Russian fight fans

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-22 08:16:00

I have heard visitor visas are easier for older women. Who knows? If they do not even look at your documents what difference does it make? Good luck

They do look at ds-160 though... And the infotmation about age and marital status is on there. I believe it is easier for parents to obtain a visa. My parents didn't have any problem with it.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-24 07:21:00

Dasha went to her interview. They asked her two questions. What is the purpose of your vist? and Have you ever had a foreign visa before? They did not look at her documents.

Denied.

I'm sorry for Dasha. It is still hard to get a visa if you're a young single woman, but hopefully, she'll visit the States some time later.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-23 04:31:00

I agree about the tickets, but she went and bought them. I think her other documentation is very good but who knows?

Thanks for the comment, I could not find any way to submit documents either except by mailing but they no longer accept applications by mailing, you MUST do the DS-160 online.

I think her documentation is good, I hope they'll have a look at it.
Oh, I guess with the new system they stopped accepting any documentation ahead of time? When I was working on my parents' visas, I was still supposed to mail their passports and copies of application confirmations through Pony Express. I mailed the invitations too. But I guess you don't have to do that anymore...

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-21 04:59:00

I never heard of anybody submitting documents online (unless they got a 221g during their interview for an immigrant or K1 visa). The only way I know to present the documents ahead of time is to try to sent them through Pony Express together with the visa application and the passport.
The tickets are very unlikely to help her, they don't care and they strongly recommend not to buy tickets until the visa is approved.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-20 21:03:00

Thanks. I will tell her that. Is it the application confrmation or the appointment confirmation? I can tell her to do both.

I was talking about application confirmation. But let her do both just in case

OK so I am curious, she walks up to a window, right? She has all these documents in her hand and then what? What do they ask? What if they do not ask her if she has a scholarship? Sorry to sound like such a n00b, but I seriously have no experience with the visitor visas.

They can ask her whatever... Like the first questions they asked my parents were "How old is your daughter?", "How old is her fiance?", "Does he speak Russian?"...

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-06 22:41:00

Also, tell her to print out an extra application confirmation page - they usually ask for it (at least in Moscow they do).

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-06 18:56:00

Is there some "order" we can/should put the coudmnets in so when she hands them over they do not have to shuffle trhough them, I know they do not spend much time on this. Put the scholarship on top with the invitation letter under, or vice versa? I mean what do they do? Do you hand it all over at once or do they ask for things one document at a time?

You don't hand in any documents until you're asked to. I mean, they can ask something like "Are you enrolled in a university program?" - she can say "yes, here is a letter from the university" (or proof of scholarship), or they can ask "Do you have an invitation letter from your boyfriends' parents?"... or they might not ask directly, but say something like "Do your boyfriends' parents mind that you're going to stay with them?" - "No, here's an invitation letter". If they don't, she won't have to show anything.
So it doesn't matter in what order her paperwork is going to be organized.
Pony Express in my city let me send the invitations with my parents' passports and confirmations of their applications - I'm not sure that they would've looked at the invitations if they didn't receive them through Pony Express.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-06 18:53:00

Thank you

I have heard of people giving them for visitor visas but also heard they were useless for that purpose. The website says it can be provided but that the case is judged on its own merits. Actually, if one os returning in three weeks, what would they need it for????

In the invitation letters for each of my parents my husband stated that he would cover part of expenses in case they needed medical treatment. That was it.
A lot of times in Russia they don't even look at the supporting documents. In case with my parents, I think the CO only looked at their applications and the invitations.

Edited by ONA, 06 November 2011 - 02:25 PM.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-06 14:25:00

Ok so I have been reading the consulate page for Yekaterinaburg and I can find no mention of whether documents for visitor visas are required to be in English. we can do translations if needed, but are they needed?

No translations needed.

Also the webpage regarding documents states that a "letter of support" can be provided by a US sponsor. I already gave her an invitation (another option) but what is anyone;s experience with the letter of support (I-134 I presume) I can provide one if it will help.

I believe visitors don't have a "sponsor". People going to some conferences or American hospitals or using a visa for a number of other purposes are also awarded either B1 or B2 visa, they can have sponsors. An invitation letter will be enough.

Edited by ONA, 05 November 2011 - 09:04 PM.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-05 21:04:00

visa deal in the works for Russia and US

The usual US Tourist Visa is 10 years multiple entry. Although the Consulate can issue for shorter periods/ single entry.

The cost etc is presumably about getting a Russian Visa, so it sounds more beneficial for those going to Russia than the US.

"The usual" US Tourist Visa is different for each country. It was 1 or 2 year multiple visa for Russia. In Ukraine it is 5 years multiple visa. I heard that for Israel it was 10 years visa, but it doesn't mean that the same rule applies to every country.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-24 20:13:00

OK, now we are getting to the point.

So would that behavior in 1991-1997 in the FSU have been more "normal" than a man not paying for a dinner after ordering a $400 bottle of wine? Which would an FSU woman of the period find more shocking? Is it more normal now?

I would find it shocking that somebody would find a $400 bottle of wine in FSU in 1991-1997...
No, sexual harassment is not "normal" anyway. It might be common, but it's not "normal", if you see what I mean.

Except that such men probably do not have a job position to offer anyway.

We're talking about FSU here :whistle:

I don't know if that's 100% true, but one of my university teachers was once talking about stereotypes and she said: "Western Europeans believe that if a person is rich, he/she is smart and hard-working. Americans believe that a rich person is smart, hard-working and lucky. Russians believe that he's a thief and a liar".

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-10 19:11:00

I don't think "normal" men would expect a ####### in return for a job. Just either: 1. idiots who forget the asking/begging/trading favors for BJ's starts during a relationship, or 2. guys who don't know how to hit on a woman well enough to figure out you have to motivate her to give you one (plus this approach results in a better one for you so it's much more convenient in the long run) 3. men who think that power alone will get every woman to do whatever they want. I wouldn't vote for any man who does this type of ####### as, in the least and best scenarios, it shows a very bad sense of timing.

4. A man, who can't get laid other than in exchange for a job position.

Alla's opinion of things at that time was either, you were a very smart, clever woman that added a lot to the business with your knowledge...or you gave sex.

That's true. But it should not be considered "normal".
One of my best friends has like half of her family in the local government in Russia (the city I used to live in), her dad is a CEO in one of the city's companies... Anyway, it was her 21st birthday and her uncle tried to hit on every girl there... saying "What are your plans for the future? I mean... there is a chance that you can work in the local government in a couple of weeks". We tried not to be rude, he was still our friend's uncle... But we were like :blink:

#######??? Until the birthday girl heard him and said: "Hey, old bag, what do you think you're doing?" :lol:

Her dad cracked up laughing, her uncle didn't say a word after that.
I believe there were girls, who would have sex with her uncle for a job position... But I don't consider it "normal"...

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-10 18:15:00

So if you and eekee were at a night club in Russia standing at the bar, and I walked in between the two of you and grabbed both of your tight little sexy arses would you be offended? Or more offended if I only grabbed eekee's tight little sexy ####### and not yours?

That's a tough one :rofl:

(JK)
I don't usually curse, but in that case I would probably send you to what we call "the 3-letter route".
Don't get me wrong, it's just #######-grabbing is considered to be soooooo middle school in Russia :yes:

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-09 20:34:00

Really?

So ask your mom. What if a man is running for President of Russia (or Ukraine) and some woman comes forward with no proof of anything and says "14 Years ago I asked him for a job and he tried to get me to give him oral sex in return for a job"

Ask her what she would think of this guy. Ask her if she would think it was unusual.

Since my mom is asleep right now, can I post my opinion first?
If a man does that to me, I'm out of his office.

If we talk about this particular situation it might as well be falsification. Politicians play their little games, it happens.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-09 19:56:00

I think this is something that must be generational, because none of the FSU women I know around my age would react the way Alla did--except for maybe the thing about paying on the date.

That might be generational... Although... I don't think my mom would've agreed with Alla either.
I don't know anybody, who'd be OK with #######-grabbing etc. I know some women, who'd smack the hell out of anybody, who tried to behave inappropriately (???? ??????? ? ??????? ???????? :lol:

Edited by ONA, 09 November 2011 - 07:36 PM.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-09 19:35:00

Wife's son is moving out already. I have concerns.

What you are saying is not wrong. Only that for a person living here with poor English skills and minimal education the future is not very bright. It is not acceptable for us for our children because it does not need to be that way.

I am not sure what you mean by "with his parents in the same country" I gess that means to help him out. Sure. We help him out. In return he goes to school and gets good grades and he can be supported by us until he finishes that. Then he can be on his own and be prepared to do well on his own.

A lot depends on whether they WANT to get education and to improve their language skills. I read Enigma11561's post and it doesn't seem that his stepson cares. I don't think that you should support your kids for their whole life, when they don't do anything to make their it better. I might be a little too tough with it, but I just talk as a person, who did everything to get into the university for free, with full scholarship from the government, because I knew that my parents couldn't afford to pay for my education. I got my first job when I was 18, and I worked somewhere ever since (until now, which is why I'm really bored....), I was paid "under the table", I wasn't officially employed, because nobody wanted to give an official job with all the benefits to a full-time student.
My husband is just the same, nobody paid for his education, nobody helped him to get a job, but here he is: he makes more than most of people twice his age do, owns a house and he is only 25 years old.
I mean, I would do anything to make my kids' lives easier, but they should put a lot of effort in it too.
And no, I don't think that living on your own is scary, even when your language is far from being perfect. It actually helps you to grow up and become more independent. It also forces people to learn the language as soon as possible. And yes - when your parents are in the same country they can help you out sometimes.

Edited by ONA, 12 November 2011 - 04:50 PM.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-11-12 16:49:00

Yes, and Alla did not consider it a problem. She loved language and literature and still does and loved the idea of being a teacher, and still does. Plus it got her out of the science and math classes she hated.

That's good.
I just thought it would've been a huge problem for me, if i had had to experience the same.

Chem suit is the common name. Chemical protective ensemble or something like that would be the official name.

The Russian suits are typically more rubberized and waterproof with maybe a cloth suit underneath. American suits are cloth and contain charcoal to filter out any contaminants. Both equally suck although the Russian suits are good in the rain (although you're so sweaty your soaked anyway) and American suits outstanding for hunting deer.

Thanks

You said it's good for hunting deer? Now I know what I'm getting my fiance for next Christmas :rofl:

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-03-26 16:31:00

Also as I am sure most of you know, around the 8th grade or so the government made decisions as to what your career and education would be. They told Alla she was going to be a teacher of the Russian language and concentrated her education on language and literature until she graduated college. She had very little math and science education in high school and college, which was fine with her. They actually chose what a persons education to that point revealed they did well at and focused on that.

That's someting I didn't even know

My mom studied in Russia, my dad studied in Ukraine, neither of them had this problem.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-03-25 00:46:00

My wife had the same "classes" in Russia, however she tells me they learned to shoot on a Kalashnikov.

I've decided to hide the few guns I do have.

I assume that your wife finished school long before I did

I finished school in 2006... and for me those classes were not just high school, but started at some point during middle school period (and nowadays kids start it in elementary school, but they don't study military stuff that early of course).
Now the classes are more medical oriented for girls and more military oriented for guys. Of course gils learn some basic military things too, but shooting is not one of them

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-03-24 18:54:00

They still have the class, shooting is only for boys though

too bad, i really wanted to try that :blush:

The name of the class is different too, something like "basic life safety".
It's really funny though looking at all your classmates wearing gaz masks

It's even more fun when you see your classmates wearing that: http://pics.livejour...1pb1gk/s640x480 I honestly don't even know what you call it in English.
Might be useful though too.
Btw this class includes lessons on HIV/AIDS and other STDs.

They have the class in colleges and universities too, more complicated and you have to do a lot of numbers there - like if something happens to a nuclear power plant how soon radiation will get to certain area and stuff like that. Depressing class, makes you realise how screwed you are if something happens.
And it's not a joke!

Edited by ONA, 24 March 2011 - 06:09 PM.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-03-24 18:06:00

NOA-2 Today!

Now I started thinking which room we can convert into a "mud room" :whistle:

I have the "work room" though, similar to one that Gary described, am I supposed to be happy? :lol:

(that's my room, my fiance HATES doing laundry... good thing he loves cooking :lol:

).

I'm going to love the "computer room" when I redecorate it the way I like - that's for sure :innocent:

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-04-24 12:35:00

NOA-2 Today!

Congrats!

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-04-18 12:55:00

Planning Visa and Timeline

They didn't change it, it's still 6 months.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-04-27 11:46:00

Sending a laptop to my Fiancee in Ukraine

All computers made in the last 10 years or so will work witrh either voltage. 220 v is by far the more common voltage worldwide and they make computers to work with any household voltage. Check the spec label on your laptop.

If there is a 'magic' label 'INPUT: 100-240V~50/60Hz' everyting will be fine.
Basically, phones, laptops, cameras work fine. There can be some problems with stuff like hair straighteners or fans.

As for the price difference - it's still there. Electronics in Russia is more expensive than in the US. The gap may be not that dramatic, but it's still pretty big.

Edited by ONA, 29 April 2011 - 06:07 PM.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-04-29 18:05:00

Russian stores in America

Taking into consideration the level of urbanisation in Russia, 'village girls' can be considered an 'endangered species'.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-05-04 14:05:00

Russian stores in America

Brad! Have you gone over to the dark side? Did she "flip" you? Fish is a good point? These clever Bolsheviks know how to persuade you. Be careful

Brad, put the fish down and step away!

My fiance absolutely loooooves the fish

Especially when it's homemade.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-05-01 02:35:00

Russia demands punishment for Ukrainian nationalists

Not hardly. Ukrainian has been stifled since the 17th century to the Ems Ukaz to the fall of the Soviet Union. I know several Western Ukrainians what weren't allowed to do homework in Ukrainian, nor did their teachers teach class in Ukrainian...it was all done in Russian. Russians had a problem when Ukraine pushed their language, along with Estonia pushing Estonian. A peoples language is a form of heritage and can be seen as nationalistic to some chauvinistic nations. Especially a nation that looks upon another nation as "Malorussia" and thinks it's the mother of all Rus. Ukrainian language was seen to be "Western Ukrainian" and a threat to some...like to Kiev and Moscow. Belarusians and Ukrainians didn't just "give up their language over night" to help the Soviet cause. On another note there are several schools and TV channels in Ukraine that are "Russian speaking", yet no Ukrainian language speaking schools in Russia. It's the same with Belarus.

How it was possible that some Western Ukrainians weren't allowed to speak Ukrainian, while people in Kiev and Kiev Oblast (that's where most of my relatives live) were totally fine doing their homework in Ukrainian and speaking Ukrainian at work, is beyond me. All of my dad's paperwork from Ukraine is either only in Ukrainian or in Ukrainian, but with some additional pages with Russian translation. In Kiev everybody, who grew up in Ukraine would speak both Ukrainian and Russian at that time and it mostly depended on people which language to use. Both Ukrainian and Russian were taught at schools - I know that for sure, I've seen my dad's school diplomas, that's the best evidence.
Russians in Ukraine and Estonia didn't like it when the governments started closing down the schools which taught both Ukrainian/Estnian and Russian. Why? For the same reason - they wanted to save their heritage. There are schools like that even in the USA, what's wrong with Ukraine? Concerning Russian schools - there are schools in my city, where they teach Ukrainian. They also teach Ukrainian in the university where I study. There is about 4-5 Ukrainian-speaking channels and 2-3 Belarusian channels on TV. I can watch them all the time if I want to, so it's a lot better then you might think.
Fun fact - southern territories of Voronezh Oblast always were and are Ukrainian speaking. In 1920s the government passed a law that they should do the paperwork there in Ukrainian, but apparently people didn't want to, and they were breaking the law all the time. Just recently I was told a story, when a guy from the same place was asked if he wanted his kids to attend a Ukrainian school, and the guy answered (in Ukrainian) "?i, ???i??? ???? ???? ?i? ??????????? ???? ?????????????"/"No, what for? Our language differs from Ukrainian a lot" :lol:

Funny, huh?

Millions died because of Communism, but Russia faired better than most. It was the Kremlin calling the shots, it was the Kremlin who gave the orders. Moscow still does not acknowledge Holodomor when millions were starved and food was shipped to Moscow. Russia still has not formally apologized to the peoples of the Baltics for invading and occupying their nations while shipping thousands of them east in cattle cars to an almost sure death. Russia just only a few years ago acknowledged Katyn Forest Massacre even though it refuses to release all files in the matter and it wasn't all that long ago Russia finally acknowledged the Molotov - Ribbentrop Pact and supplying NAZI Germany with fuel, materials and a naval base. And for those parades with the Soviet National Anthem now known as the Russian National Anthem...ya go figure eh. How long ago was it before Lenin was finally buried ?

Holodomor is widely known in Russia, but in fact, people in other parts of the USSR were dieing too. It was not about the nation, it was about the most fertile regions - the majority of fatalities occured in those regions, including Ukraine.
And again - "Kremlin" doesn not mean "Russian". Look it up on wiki, who is responsible for what happened. There were Ukrainian politicians, who are to blame for Holodomor, some Russian and one Georgian. I don't think they cared about Russian people, they cared about themselves only. Why do you want to blame some Russian people, who didn't live on the most fertile land and therefore didn't die of starvation?

Edited by ONA, 13 May 2011 - 11:10 AM.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-05-13 11:09:00

Russia demands punishment for Ukrainian nationalists

Instead those people became Soviet slaves. And not many people from Lviv sided with the Soviets. They fought with the Germans, and then the proceeded to fight against the Germans, and then fought both the Germans and Soviets at the same time.

But I agree that they shouldn't have done what they did with the Victory Day celebration. On the other hand Lviv might not be such a good choice to have such a celebration. Further east would make more sense imo.

I said that I meant actual slaves, not people deprived of some freedoms. Nazis didn't think that the Slavic nation was as advanced as them that's why they wanted to kill most of them and have some as their slaves. Even Stalin didn't have such a cruel plan.
And as for celebrations - there is a law in Ukraine that people can celebrate the Victory Day in Kiev and any other city. (I can copy it here, but it's in Ukrainian). And people were celebrating the Victory Day every year in Kiev, Lviv and other cities. And this year it suddenly became "not a good choice"?

If it were only that simple. In case you missed it, the people of Western Ukraine fought against the Soviets, not with them. Western Ukraine was seeking independence from Poland, then later the Soviets, then the Germans, and then the Soviets again. They fought pretty much everybody for the fact they are an independent minded people who don't want to be anyones wh0res. They just want to be Ukrainians who speak and write Ukrainian in an independent Ukraine.

A little problem here - they pretty much... were never independent. Kievan Rus, Poland and Lithuania, Austro-Hungary, Poland, USSR... How come they only hate Russians? Weird, huh?

They weren't allowed to speak Belarusian at work, school, and in the government for many a year. Same with Ukraine. It would be the equivalent if the Chinese were to take over the US and ban English.

That's a lie. Concerning Ukraine anyway it's a big terrible lie, but you probably have fallen for the anti-Russian propaganda.
I said it before and I'm going to say it again: my dad is Ukrainian, he grew up in Ukraine and he is telling a completely different story. In fact, my dad spoke Ukrainian a lot better than Russian, when he first came here (that's his story). And he still writes in Ukrainian better than in Russian. Why? Just because the primary language in his school (as in many other Ukrainian schools) was Ukrainian. They also had classes of the Russian language and literature - and those were the only classes they would actually speak Russian. My parents at first moved to Ukraine, but later they decided to live in Russia, cause it was too hard for my mom to do anything there without the knowledge of Ukrainian (and it was still during the Soviet times). My grandma hardly speaks Russian and she can't write in Russian at all - for some reason she wasn't forced to speak Russian at work. When my grandpa was alive, I never heard them speaking Russian. My aunt and unkle always speak Ukrainian, they also were never forced to speak Russian at school or anywhere. The knowledge of Russian let them go and work in Georgia though.
And now we came to the point: Russian was taught everywhere, because it was the language that allowed people from different republics talk to each other. That's it. Other languages weren't forbidden. In fact, in some parts of FSU the Soviet era was the time when a lot of people learned how to write in their own language. For example Kyrgys language didn't even have a standart written form until 1923, i.e. until the Soviet state didn't decide that that's what they needed.
You can blame USSR for a lot of stuff, but you can't blame them for the language policy, just cause you lack some knowledge on that matter and believe the propaganda based on lies.

Millions of Ukrainians died because of the Soviets. Starvation, deportation, etc... So yes, not a lot of Western Ukrainians see the Soviets as liberators. They only remember them as the ones who replaced the NAZI's and then proceeded to repress them by all means possible including their religion which happens to be the Greek Orthodox Catholic Church. Those churches were taken over by the Russian Orthodox Church and they were forced to practice their religion in private. Fields, barns, forest, etc..

Some of those people witnessed their relatives and priest being strung up on tree's and skinned alive by Soviet soldiers and NKVD. Hard feelings still remain and they aren't going to go away anytime soon. It's the same with in the Baltics.

Millions of Russians died because of the Soviet government, which, by the way, was not entirely Russian. Everybody struggled just the same, and you will know it, if you pay more attention to the history of Russia.
And it's not a good reason to do what the did to the veterans. Or do they think that it takes a really brave man to assault somebody 60 years older than themselves? Very "brave" :bonk:

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-05-12 07:33:00

Russia demands punishment for Ukrainian nationalists

Svoboda is a nut case party who's support doesn't reach outside of Galacia.

The part of that article I posted that got me was this...; "planned to lay at the tombs of Soviet soldiers who died while liberating Ukraine from Nazi Germany."

There was no "Liberating" going on. It was one form of occupation being removed for another. That's not "Liberating" it's "Occupying".

You can call it whatever you want. But if those people didn't fight back then, people in Lviv might be Nazi's slaves right now... When I say slaves, I don't mean deprived of some kind of freedom, I actually mean slaves.
And they did not have any right to offend those old people, who have lived in Lviv their whole life and who fought not for Soviet government, but to save their own lives and lives of those little idiots, who want to play Nazis nowadays.

ONA

Female

Russia

2011-05-11 18:10:00