Ukraine in Histories and Stories Quotes

“In a country which has elections, there is always choice, intrigue and alliances that determine the future. In a country where "the tsar is given by God", there is no choice and potential intrigues and alliances are combated bloodily and brutally even before they emerge”
― Andriy Kurkov, Ukraine in Histories and Stories: Essays by Ukrainian Intellectuals

“Ukraine was, therefore, born between two imperial projects, between the two versions of the old Rome: Roman Catholic and Third-Rome-Orthodox-Muscovite. It struggled against the former, it helped to create the latter, and then it struggled against the later.”
― Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukraine in Histories and Stories: Essays by Ukrainian Intellectuals

“As the Russian Empire was expanding, it integrated new territories not only through russification, but also through spreading its collective Russian mentality, ready to fight with the slogan "For faith, for tsar, for Motherland". Precisely in this way and in this order, Russian government identified the values, for which the Russian people had to die. Still today, Orthodox faith is openly put forward by the Russian government as a unifying foundation for Slavic people. The tsar comes second, and Motherland lags behind: it will inevitably collapse if the tsar dies. This means the tsar has to be protected with far greater courage than the Motherland: because the Motherland is the tsar.
For Ukrainians who has have never had their own tsar (we do not count princes and other local feudal lords), the Motherland, their homeland has always been more important than a foreign tsar and - which is the worse for Russia - more important than faith.”
― Andriy Kurkov, Ukraine in Histories and Stories: Essays by Ukrainian Intellectuals