History Learner
Well-known member
Autonomy does indicate a separate identity, though. Similar to how Southern whites in the US feel nowadays. As for Russian language publications far exceeding Ukrainian ones, I'm not sure that this is exactly relevant here since one could be a Scottish or an Irish or a Welsh nationalist and yet speak English to a much greater extent than one would speak Scottish Gaelic or Irish or Welsh. Yet this still wouldn't mean that one would classify oneself as an Englishmen instead of as a Scot/Irishman/Welshman.
Even nowadays, 41% of Ukrainians consider themselves and Russians to be one people, and yet they still hate Russia's guts:
41% of Ukrainians Agree They and Russians Are One People
These are the results of a recent poll from Rating Group. 41% agree with Putin's position, 55% disagree. Not bad, considering there's now been a generation's worth of state svidomy narratives. But possibly the most startling result (and certainly one that I didn't expect is there there's...www.unz.com
Choosing to use the Russian language, instead of their own, is indicative of preference because Ukrainian is alive and well in a way Welsh and Scots hasn't been for quite sometime. It's also worth noting that usage of the Russian language correlated well with Ukrainian polling on their status vis-a-vis Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union and is remarkably tied into the events of the 2010s. Russian language publications became to decline after 2010-which marked the high point of desire in Ukraine to directly join Russia-and then precipitously after 2014. If it wasn't tied into identity, it should not have declined after 2014.