OLES BUZINA:

"We have to stop teaching lies about the Ukrainian history"

Why should we care if some Western Ukrainian radicals would be worried with the
Eurasian union-to-be, including Russia, the Ukraine, Byelorussia and Kazakhstan?
They will learn to live with that, I suppose. They’ve somehow got used to the A
ustria-Hungary or to the Polish mastery — they’ve even stood the Tatar-Mongolian
yoke. God grants that they’d be able to endure the true Slavic reign just as we
ll.

Today WIN.ru is publishing an interview with a person, who can be dubbed one of
the brightest and most popular intellectuals of the Ukraine and along with that
— one of the most consistent and decisive fighters against fascism in this count
ry. Our website presents you writer, journalist and the TV anchorman Oles Buzina
.
— Oles Alekseevich, you are the adherent of unifying all the three branches of E
astern Slavic nations. What should become the grounds for such unification and h
ow is it to be managed, by some supranational government bodies?
— I believe that Ukrainian, Russian and Byelorussian nations are the composing p
arts of a whole and there should be no specific difficulties unifying them; such
reconciliation comes to be natural and consistent. Ruling over three Eastern Sl
avic nations would be easier than governing the European Union that consists of
nations that speak different languages, don’t understand each other; Euro-Union
itself consists of plenty of various states. At the same time we’re having just
three Eastern Slavic nations here — Kazakhstan may adjoin them as well. We may e
asily establish our friendship just. Of course, we would also require some supra
-national authorities, some sort of the Eurasian government.
— Concerning the Ukraine — what do you think about the most radical, Western reg
ions of the country and their ability to fit into such structure? Are some extra
conditions needed?
I don’t have any idea why such issues have to be dealt with, proceeding from wha
t do the Western Ukrainian ultra-nationalists think about that. They might think
whatever they like; I personally don’t like the fact that Russian language is d
eprived of the state status in the Ukraine. But I am living with that, isn’t it?
I need Russian language as the second state language, but I’m not exploding any
thing, not killing anyone — I just demand it from the authorities and — being a
law-abiding citizen — I want to achieve this goal, acting within the legal frame
work, of course. Why should we care if some Western Ukrainian radicals would be
worried with the Eurasian union-to-be, including Russia, the Ukraine, Byelorussi
a and Kazakhstan? They will learn to live with that, I suppose. They’ve somehow
got used to the Austria-Hungary or to the Polish mastery — they’ve even stood th
e Tatar-Mongolian yoke. God grants that they’d be able to endure the true Slavic
reign just as well.
— Oles Alekseevich, what, in your opinion, has to be changed it the Ukrainian ed
ucational sphere, in the field of humanities, first of all?
— Speaking of humanities, we have to bring the Russian language and Russian lite
rature studies back to schools, stop teaching lies about the Ukrainian history.
We have to stop telling children that in the beginning of the 20th century Ukrai
nians wanted to restore their own state. There was nothing they wanted to restor
e at that time as long as they’ve never had their own state before. And this is
a historical fact. We just have to put it plainly — in the beginning of the 20th
century functionaries of the Ukrainian Central Rada started popularizing the id
eas that the Ukrainian state allegedly used to exist at some certain moment of t
ime. But prior to that, in 1918 these very functionaries and activists stood jus
t for the federal state, i. e. state being a part of Russia. They were not going
to restore any kind of state until Bolsheviks came to power in Moscow. I want t
o say that all the fictions of modern history textbooks have to be discarded and
the actual history is to be taught.
— But that means, no less than a collapse of the national idea that the Ukrainia
n leaders were cultivating over the previous years, doesn’t it?
— Well, the idea cannot burst just because truth about it was revealed. It canno
t collapse because of the fact the Kievan Rus has never been the Ukrainian state
. It was Rus, historical Russian state. And there were no ancient Ukrainians in
the period of Kievan Rus. No ancient Ukrainian literature, as well — that’s a hi
storical fact. If it existed — then let anyone show me at least a single documen
t — even an inscription on the wall would do — proving the existence of ancient
Ukrainians in the 8th century. But there are none, as well as there were no Ukra
inians in the 8th century — they didn’t exist in the 18th century, just as well.
Ancient Ukrainians came into being in the 20th century. The most ancient of all
the Ukrainians were born during the Soviet rule. Only Rusins — who have never b
een the ancient Ukrainians — existed before that. They’ve been the original mate
rial for the ancient Ukrainians who came through an ideological mutation afterwa
rds. Having read some booklets, having gone through a shock of the First World W
ar and then a Civil war, part of Rusins and Little Russians turned into ancient
Ukrainians. This is a historical fact as well.
— Oles Alekseevich, some time ago news that the non-governmental organization "D
ozor1" promoted the idea of appointing you to the post of Dmitro Tabachnyk’s (Uk
rainian Minister of Education) Deputy, hit the news-boards — it allegedly happen
ed due to your impartial attitude towards the historical disciplines. How do you
react to such initiative?
— It is always pleasant to be appointed to some high posts. Deep in their hearts
, all the Ukrainians dream of taking the President’s seat and the king’s mace. A
t the bottom of my heart, I’m quite vain, too and it would be especially pleasin
g to look at the crowds of lickspittles laying out the red carpets and praising
me in different manners. I’d be glad to watch the desperate nationalists — who g
lorified the communist party as far back as yesterday and became the first-rate
patriots right after the proclamation of independence — showing their respect to
me. So, I welcome the "Dozor" initiative, though I would advise them not to res
train themselves with the declarations but rather organize the political demarch
es to support this idea.
— Oles Alekseevich, ratification of the prolonged Russian Black Sea Fleet lease
— and the subsequent decreasing of the gas price — caused quite a stir at Verkho
vna Rada. Do you think that there are any grounds for the apprehends?
— I’m happy that gas became $100 cheaper for the Ukraine and that our countries
negotiated over the Black Sea Fleet staying. Everyone would benefit from that —
except, probably, Yulia Timoshenko and people, depicting themselves as the Ukrai
nian creative intellectuals. It happens due to the fact that everything that ben
efits them is bad for the Ukraine as the state. Considering that this "intellect
uals" produce literally nothing I constantly strive to ask — where are the resul
ts of their creative work? I see neither books of their authorship, nor any othe
r pieces of art, they’ve enriched us with. So why do they call themselves creati
ve intellectuals? Half-pornographic works and the so-called "letters of protest"
on any suitable occasion are the summit of their creativity.