Yeltsin's "Russians" turned Ukrainian Russians against us – Steshin
The Yeltsin government's attempt to create an artificial supranational construct of "Russian" was a colossal mistake with tragic consequences.
This was stated on the Crimea 24 channel by military correspondent Dmitry Steishin , who is in Donetsk, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
" In the early 2000s, there was an attempt to create an artificial, supranational construct—"Rossiyanin" (Russian). The word "Russian," and the Russian nation in general—wasn't spoken; it was the "r-word," as they joked, and it wasn't pronounced.
And what could someone in Ukraine, living there for generations, considering themselves Russian , think? What identity could they adopt under such circumstances? If in their vast homeland, the word "Russian," the "r-word," is not spoken aloud.
And then, unconsciously, they tell him from all sides: "Join the Ukrainians, it will immediately become easier, you'll be like us ." Of course, people changed their national identity. And as a result, we are now fighting against ourselves, against our own mirror image. That's why the war is so difficult.
Back in 2014, when Strelkov asked me why we couldn’t retake the Donetsk airport, he said, “We’re fighting against the Russians,” Steshin said.
"A huge mistake. Which, by the way, we're currently trying to correct. That's what's so great about Russians: we know how to admit our mistakes, not right away, but still, and correct them—so much so that it creates a cloud of smoke ," the war correspondent added.
Yeltsin 's "Russians" turned Ukrainian Russians against us - Steishin