I'm rather surprised that he hasn't yet announced hero status for all those Ukrainians who fought along side Georgia in their genocide of the people of South Ossetia. Or maybe he is waiting until after he is re-elected

@ Kevin nice said!

Is President Viktor Yushchenko trying as hard as possible not to get re-elected seeing how at least 30% of the population located in the industrial East is Russian? You know as soon as the pro-Russian candidate gets elected the US, Britain and Israel will do everything possible to try to disrupt his term look to turmoil in the Crimea with the Crimean Tatars who are on the payroll of NED (National Endowment for Democracy).

This is another attempt to agitate anti-Russian sentiment in the Ukraine. There seems to be a well orchestrated campaign to stir anti-Russian sentiment from Tallinn to Tbilisi by the ruling political parties.

Bogdanov "As to Russians, I would recommend them not being so shy and start treating Ukraine accordingly. For example, selling to Ukraine gas and oil for the price with is ten time higher than the market average. Or even better -- stop selling anything to them." Bogdanov Your psychological doublespeak is subtle and yet its implications are alarming. Your suggestion that Ukrainians have historically harmed Russians and Russian must now take revenge on the Ukrainians at the moment when the majority of population in the Ukraine are ready to elect one of two leaders who are ready to restore warm relationship with Russia is is odds with your utter silence of the crimes of the oligarchs who looted Russia in 1990s and caused the deaths of millions of Russians!

Hey, Ukraine is a free country and they can celebrate any occasion that they deem fit. So stop complaining and mind your own business. Gene

Actually, it is the Russians who collaborated with The Nazis. Maybe Bogdanov forgot that it was the Soviets and Nazis who started WW2 by partitioning Poland. Russians have been involved in the genocide of a number of Eatern European nations - hence why everyone hates Russians: Ukrainians, Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Georgians, etc..... Why cant' the Russians get it right - EVERYONE HATES THEM.

Agree with Michael. Russians nitpick on Ukraine all the time forgetting that they collaborated with Nazis and tried to eradicate Ukrainians. Russia Today should be ashamed of flagging itself as an unbiased Russian station. If you were so unbiased, why your stories reflect only one point of view - Russian? You are no better than RTR, NTV and other stations which make PR, not news.

@Michael The majority of the first Soviet government 84-87% like Trotsky who led the Red Army came from New York, financed by New York banker Jacob Schiff and other international bankers and they were not Russian. The MR was not a secret agreement to partition Poland it was a line of interest negotiated between USSR and the Nazis hence if they wanted to partition Poland they would have invaded at the same time not wait 2 weeks after Germany invaded Poland and the Polish government flees in exile with no one for the USSR to negotiate with stopping the Nazis coming up to the USSR’s border. http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/research/gfon39pactpnews07.html “Article II. In the event of a territorial and political rearrangement of the areas belonging to the Polish state, the spheres of influence of Germany and the U.S.S.R. shall be bounded approximately by the line of the rivers Narev, Vistula and San.” And it was Poland who started WW2 by massacring German civilians in predominantly German areas upwards of 90% given to seem under Versailles like Broomberg I bet the names contributed to the "genocides" are not Russian although most of what we know of Soviet history like Robert Conquest who worked for the British foreign office and the CIA is based on Cold War propaganda as there has never been serious scientific studies or critical review on the issue like the myth that Stalin killed 20 million people prior to WW2.

Michael I think that Russia is perhaps the least hated country of all the security Council members ; Russia has made agreat perhaps the greatest contribution to human civilisation in the last three centuries. I guess the countries of Eastern Europe- which are now willing partners of the U.S corporate, mercenary military fascism- cannot look at their own history with detached objectivity-including their extensive collaboration with the Third Reich. Today, one can easily obtain WWII footages shwoing Ukrainians welcoming SS troops with bread and salt- the what they did not realise for the Third Reich's aim was to eradicate as many millions of Slaves as they could and Russia saved them from complete eradication.

Lia I assume you are open to historical facts rather than spinning propaganda slogans. If you are open to referring to the historical record of WWII in the Eastern Front, then refer to one instance when Russians welcomed the troops of the Third Reich with flowers, bread and salts. Evidence shows that SS troops were greeted with bread and salt and flowers in the Ukraine, Latvia, etc.

Germany had at first promised Ukrainians independence from Russia which is why they received support from Ukrainians initially. Soon after, the Ukrainian leadership began to be arrested (eg Bandera) or eradicated not unlike what Russia was doing to Ukrainians. Germany wanted Ukraine for its own selfish reasons as did Russia. Ukraine was between a rock and a hard place---suffering more total casualties than any nation of WWII. What is wrong with a holiday to comemorate any and all Ukrainians who sacrified themselves for a free and independent Ukraine? These people fought both Germans and Russians and others who were against Ukraines determination to be free. These fighters would be nothing less than patriots in other countries. If Russians cannot comprehend the concept of freedom then maybe they need to re-evaluate their own personal feelings and ask if chauvanism or arrogance is not interferring. After all, did Ukraine occupy Russia or was it the reverse? Similarly, did these patriots attack Russia or was it the reverse?

mykry Do you think that by 1941, the Ukrainian leadership was that stupid to purchase the promise of independence from the Soviet Union by the Third Reich! All they had to do is to look at what the Third Reich did to Poland and other countries in Eastern Europe it had already conquered. I am sorry to say it but that based on how the nation has become dependent on the United States foreign policy-objectives, the Ukrainians need little political maturity. For example, the Finns collaborated with the Third Reich but to a point because the Finns knew what the Third Reich stood for. I cannot see how the Ukrainians are not ready to look at their own collusion with the fascist Germany. Blaming Russia will not erase historical footages showing Ukrainians giving bread and salts to SS troops.

@mykry These groups had initial minority support after the civil war supported by German and foreign intelligence who were running sabotage operations, terrorism and torture and propaganda until after WW2 who were latter supported by the CIA and MI6 after WW2. Ukraine as we know it today was unified by the Soviets with Eastern Ukraine actually being Russian who only became Ukrainian after the falll of the USSR.

@ Sarah You words on every post I have read are without merit and you statements are baseless. For somebody who is not Russian, who speaks like she is Russian, you do not know the first thing of being Russian. Your statement, “Russia has made a great perhaps the greatest contribution to human civilisation in the last three centuries” couldn’t be further from the truth. The millions of Russian Stalin killed just because he was too illiterate and evil can NEVER and will NEVER be forgotten. Whatever WWII footage you are viewing are obviously communist created. Please, the only “historical facts” you know are twisted and you are confused.

@ mykry Your thoughts were accurate, concise, comprehensive and very well stated.

@Nuta Stalin did not kill millions of Russians or any other people during his entire reign at most one million people died with a quarter of them innocent and he made measures to punish those who used there powers in excess Most people died from outbreaks of disease. What we know about Stalin and the USSR covered by mainstream media is essentially worthless with more accurate research using archive evidence from historians like not from the like of Robert Conquest who worked for British secret services anti-Communist propaganda department.

Nuta It is true that I am not Russian; however, it is a fact for the last 300 years has Russia produced the greatest literature and classical music. I think Russia has something the whole world wants- deep culture.

January 11, 2010, 18:25, mykry wrote >After all, did Ukraine occupy Russia or was it the reverse? Just curious what "occupation" you're talking about? If this about 1939 then go ahead and restore a historical justice so to speak - return the occupied territories to whom it belonged at that time - to Poles, they still want it, but before you do that, find some Ukrainians who still remember Polish Galicia and ask them how they liked the Polish ruling. You can also ask those few Jews that survived the Holocaust of 1941 in Lviv (or Lwow if Polish name sounds better to you) , what those "freedom fighters" that you're so excited about did to them. Good luck with your research!