President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asks his prime minister to consider whether “Russia” should change its name to “Moskovy” in the Ukrainian vernacular. A history professor says it is an attempt to humiliate the Putin regime.
“Moskovy”, or “Moskovija” in Russian, was a name occasionally applied to the Russian Empire before Peter the Great modernized the country.
A petition in Ukraine proposes that Russia should be called “Moscow” and the Russian Federation (which is the official name of Russia) the “Moscow Federation”.
After this action has received over 25,000 signatures, the president must look at it, and Zelenskyj has asked Prime Minister Denys Sjmyhal to consider the proposal, reports Novaya Gazeta Europa.
– The question requires a thorough elaboration both in terms of historical and cultural context and with regard to potential consequences in international law. I have asked the prime minister to consider such a possibility, says Zelenskyj according to Novaja Gazeta Europe.
Professor emeritus Kristian Gerner at Lund University comments on the proposal to VG:
– Zelenskyj will emphasize that it is the old Rus – which was founded in Kyiv at the end of the 8th century – which is the origin of today’s Ukraine and belongs to Europe.
– He is trying to remove Russia’s legitimacy, believes the history professor.
– What do you mean?
– He wants a language where Ukraine is seen as the original, civilized Russia, and that Putin’s Moscow state is something completely different. It is an attack against Putin.
– This is a question of existence for Ukraine. They will change our understanding of what Ukraine is. That Ukraine is the “real” state.
– Is it an attempt to humiliate Putin?
– Yes, I will. Putin believes that Ukraine does not exist. Now Ukraine responds with the same coin.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reacted strongly to Zelenskyi’s statement:
– Further proof that Zelenskyj is trying to make Ukraine anti-Russia, she reports according to Tass Telegram.
Ex-president Dmitry Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of the powerful National Security Council, goes further than Zakharova as usual. On his Telegram-side he speculates on how Russia will respond.
– The top Nazi in Kyiv will find out about the question of renaming Russia to Moskovy. Well, what can I say…
Medvedev writes that two of the usual Russian nicknames for Ukraine, Khokhlandija and Malorossija (“Little Russia”) are not enough:
– Schweinisch Bandera-Reich, suggests Medvedev – in German – and is probably trying to call Ukraine Nazi in that way. “Bandera” is the name of the controversial Ukrainian nationalist and independence activist Stepan Bandera (1909–1959), who in Russia is constantly highlighted as a symbol of fascist views in Ukraine.
Professor Sven G. Holtsmark has previously commented to VG about the Russians’ attempts to link Germany and Ukraine to Nazism and the Second World War.
The war in Ukraine has been going on since 2014. On February 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
