To Indians Everywhere — Ukraine has a Distinct National Identity from Russia or the USSR
I had the honor early Monday morning to be interviewed by an Indian Journalist from Delhi, Khudania Ajay, on his KAJ Masterclass podcast about a book I am writing, and my current views on the War in Ukraine. India is an audience I have been hoping to reach for some time now. This country of over one billion people has generally stayed neutral or some have taken, what I perceive to be, a more pro-Russian stance.
With its painful legacy of colonialism, I have always been convinced this is an audience who should be sympathetic to Ukraine’s plight of throwing off the Russian colonial yoke. However, I also understand it would be more complicated and more nuanced than that. India and the legacy USSR were very strong allies during the Cold War. In addition, India to this day continues to buy gas and weapons from Russia, a necessity to fuel the Indian economy and, provide it with necessary security.
Khudania Ajay gave me new insight by telling me Indians are conflicted as they see both Russia and Ukraine as allies. He suggested it might be helpful if I explain what is distinct about Ukraine as a nation from Russia and why Indians should care (and maybe even take a side in the dispute). Khudania Ajay told me that Indians can be moved by emotion.
Unfortunately, I think I dropped the ball with my response.
I am afraid I focused too much on the history of the two countries, the geo-politics, and the politics at play, and not enough on the emotion or even answering the question at hand.
This is my best attempt at a do-over.
Ukraine is not a distinct nation from Russia just because it has a long-storied history, and a wish to remain democratic and tied to Europe.
Ukraine is just a very different nation and culture from Russia and has spent the past 30 years at nation-building away from Russian colonialism, and that is why Ukraine deserves to be independent. It is why its borders should be recognized from 1991. It is why it should be supported by every nation in the world, including India at the expense of Russia, the aggressor.
Why is Ukraine different from Russia?
Language: The Ukrainian language is a unique language from Russian. Both languages might have a common root in Slavonic and some similar words and grammar, but, they are not the same language. I would consider the Ukrainian and Russian languages as related to each other as the romance languages are to each other. For example, both Spanish and Italian have roots in Latin but are different languages.
Music and Dance: Russia is renowned for its classical composers and ballet celebrating the sophisticated bourgeois and upper-class society. On the other hand, Ukrainian music and dance are folk in nature and venerate and celebrate the village, the peasant, and the harvest.
Food: Both Russian and Ukrainians have a long history of food cultures that are very different from each other. While Russian cuisine is much more refined with its sturgeon and caviar, Ukrainian cuisine is more the food of the peasant with its vereniki and borscht.
Writers and Poets: Russians have their Leonid Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Alexandr Pushkin. Ukrainians have their Taras Shevchenko, Lesia Ukrainka, and Nickolay Gogol.
Ukraine isn’t just different from Russia because it has been a functioning democracy for 30 years, no longer has its nuclear weapons (because it gave them up), and just wants to live in peace more closely integrated with Europe, it is also its own nation. It has its own history, language, culture, music, cuisine, and identity. If it weren’t for a larger neighbor with colonial designs on it, it would be whole and at peace today.
This is the reason Indians should choose the side of Ukraine over Russia.