1.
Carl Sagan
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Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator in astronomy and other natural sciences. He is best known for his work as a science popularizer and his best known scientific contribution is research on extraterrestrial life, including experimental demonstration of the production of amino acids from basic chemicals by radiation. Sagan argued the now accepted hypothesis that the surface temperatures of Venus can be attributed to. Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books. He wrote many science books, such as The Dragons of Eden, Brocas Brain and Pale Blue Dot. The most widely watched series in the history of American public television, the book Cosmos was published to accompany the series. He also wrote the science fiction novel Contact, the basis for a 1997 film of the same name and his papers, containing 595,000 items, are archived at The Library of Congress. Sagan always advocated scientific skeptical inquiry and the method, pioneered exobiology. He spent most of his career as a professor of astronomy at Cornell University and he married three times and had five children. After suffering from myelodysplasia, Sagan died of pneumonia at the age of 62, Carl Sagan was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Samuel Sagan, was an immigrant garment worker from Kamianets-Podilskyi, then Russian Empire and his mother, Rachel Molly Gruber, was a housewife from New York. Carl was named in honor of Rachels biological mother, Chaiya Clara, in Sagans words and he had a sister, Carol, and the family lived in a modest apartment near the Atlantic Ocean, in Bensonhurst, a Brooklyn neighborhood. According to Sagan, they were Reform Jews, the most liberal of North American Judaisms four main groups, both Sagan and his sister agreed that their father was not especially religious, but that their mother definitely believed in God, and was active in the temple. During the depths of the Depression, his father worked as a theater usher, according to biographer Keay Davidson, Sagans inner war was a result of his close relationship with both of his parents, who were in many ways opposites. Sagan traced his later analytical urges to his mother, a woman who had extremely poor as a child in New York City during World War I. As a young woman she had held her own ambitions, but they were frustrated by social restrictions, her poverty, her status as a woman and a wife. Davidson notes that she therefore worshipped her only son, Carl and he would fulfill her unfulfilled dreams. However, he claimed that his sense of wonder came from his father, in his free time he gave apples to the poor or helped soothe labor-management tensions within New Yorks garment industry
2.
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (book)
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Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, A Search for Who We Are is a 1993 book by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan. In the final chapters, they examine primates in detail, comparing the details between anatomically modern humans and the extant species most closely related to them, shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, A Search for Who We Are
3.
Sergei Parajanov
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Sergei Parajanov was a Soviet film director and artist of Armenian descent who made significant contributions to Soviet cinematography through Ukrainian, Armenian, and Georgian cinema. He invented his own style, which was totally out of step with the guiding principles of socialist realism. This, combined with his lifestyle and behaviour, led Soviet authorities to repeatedly persecute and imprison him. Although he started professional film-making in 1954, Parajanov later disowned all the films he made before 1965 as garbage, after directing Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors Parajanov became something of an international celebrity and simultaneously a target of attacks from the system. He was imprisoned until 1977, despite a pleas for pardon from various artists, even after his release he was a persona non grata in Soviet cinema. It was not until the mid-1980s, when the climate started to relax. Still, it required the help of influential Georgian actor Dodo Abashidze, in January 1988, he said in an interview, Everyone knows that I have three Motherlands. I was born in Georgia, worked in Ukraine and Im going to die in Armenia, Sergei Parajanov is buried at Komitas Pantheon which is located in the city center of Yerevan. Parajanov was an member of the Georgian social scene. Parajanov was born Sarkis Hovsepi Parajaniants to artistically gifted Armenian parents, Iosif Paradjanov and Siranush Bejanova, in Tbilisi and he gained access to art from an early age. In 1948 he was convicted of acts with a MGB officer named Nikolai Mikava in Tbilisi. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released under an amnesty after three months, in video interviews, friends and relatives contest the truthfulness of anything he was charged with. They speculate the punishment may have been a form of retaliation for his rebellious views. In 1950 Parajanov married his first wife, Nigyar Kerimova, in Moscow and she came from a Muslim Tatar family and converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity to marry Parajanov. She was later murdered by her relatives because of her conversion, after her murder Parajanov left Russia for Kiev, Ukraine, where he produced a few documentaries and a handful of narrative films, Andriesh, The Top Guy, Ukrainian Rhapsody, and Flower on the Stone. He became fluent in Ukrainian and married his wife, Svitlana Ivanivna Shcherbatiuk, also known as Svetlana Sherbatiuk or Svetlana Parajanov. Shcherbatiuk gave birth to a son, Suren, in 1958, andrey Tarkovskys first film Ivans Childhood had an enormous impact on Parajanovs self-discovery as a filmmaker. Later the influence became mutual, and he and Tarkovsky became close friends, in 1965 Parajanov abandoned socialist realism and directed the poetic Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, his first film over which he had complete creative control
4.
Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky
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Mykhailo Mykhailovych Kotsiubynsky, was a Ukrainian author whose writings described typical Ukrainian life at the start of the 20th century. The popularity of his novels led to some of them being made into Soviet movies. He grew up in Bar, Vinnytsia region and several towns and villages in Podolia. He attended the Sharhorod Religious Boarding School from 1876 until 1880 and he continued his studies at the Kamianets-Podilskyi Theological Seminary, but in 1882 he was expelled from the school for his political activities within the socialist movement. Already he had been influenced by the awakening Ukrainian national idea and his first attempts at writing prose in 1884 were also written in the Ukrainian language, Andriy Soloviyko. From 1888 to 1890, he was a member of the Vinnytsia Municipal Duma, in 1890, he visited Galicia, where he met several other Ukrainian cultural figures including Ivan Franko and Volodymyr Hnatiuk. It was there in Lviv that his first story Nasha Khatka was published, during this period, he worked as a private tutor in and near Vinnytsia. There, he could study life in traditional Ukrainian villages, which was something he often came back to in his stories including the 1891 Na Viru and the 1901 Dorohoiu tsinoiu. During large parts of the years 1892 to 1897, he worked for a commission studying the grape pest phylloxera in Bessarabia, during the same period, he was a member of the secret Brotherhood of Taras. He moved to Chernihiv in 1898 where he worked as a statistician at the bureau of the Chernihiv zemstvo. He also was active in the Chernigov Governorate Scholarly Archival Commission, after the Russian Revolution of 1905, Kotsiubynsky could be more openly critical of the Russian tsarist regime, which can be seen in Vin ide and Smikh, both from 1906, and Persona grata from 1907. Fata Morgana, in two parts from 1904 and 1910, is probably his best-known work, here he describes the typical social conflicts in the life of the Ukrainian village. About twenty novels were published during Kotsiubynskys life, several of them have been translated into other European languages. Because of a disease, Kotsjubynskyj spent long periods at different health resorts on Capri from 1909 to 1911. During the same period, he visited Greece and the Carpathians, during the Soviet period, Kotsiubynsky was honoured as a realist and a revolutionary democrat. A literary-memorial museum was opened in Vinnytsia in 1927 in the house where he was born, later a memorial was created nearby the museum. The house in Chernihiv where he lived for the last 15 years of his life was turned into a museum in 1934, the house contains the author’s personal belongings. Adjacent to the house is a museum, which opened in 1983, containing Kotsiubinsky’s manuscripts, photos, magazines, several Soviet movies have been based on Kotsiubynsky’s novels such as Koni ne vynni, Dorohoiu tsunoiu and Tini zabutykh predkiv
5.
Ivan Mykolaichuk
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Ivan Vasylyovych Mykolaichuk was a Ukrainian soviet actor, producer, and screen writer from Ukraine. He is best known for playing the Hutsul Ivan in Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors and he received the Komsomol prize of Ukraine in 1967, and the title of Meritorious Artist of the Ukrainian SSR in 1968. He posthumously received the Taras Shevchenko prize, Mykolaichuk was born in a village of Chortoryia in Western Ukraine during World War II in a family of peasants. Ivan graduated from a school of the neighboring village of Brusnytsia. In 1957 he finished the Chernivtsi Music College and in 1961 he graduated from the theater-studio of the Chernivtsi Music-Drama Theater of Kobylyanska, on August 29,1962 Ivan married an actress of the theater Maria Karpiuk. In 1963-65 he studied in the Karpenko-Karyi Memorial Kyiv Institute of Theatrical Arts, during those years Ivan debuted in the Leonid Osykas movie Dvoye. His films were controversial and suppressed by the Soviet authorities, sometimes his films were banned from being screened by the KGB. The movie, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, that received the Gold Prize of the 7th Moscow International Film Festival in 1971, was perceived almost as an attack by nationalistic forces. Mykolaichuk died in August 1987 at the age of 46 and his house in Chortoryia, Kitsman Raion, Chernivtsi Oblast, has since been turned into a museum. He left a legacy on Ukrainian film. Many consider him to be the greatest actor in the history of Ukrainian Cinematography and he also inspired other Ukrainian artists, actors, singers and writers who were searching for their Ukrainian identity in the Soviet era
6.
Larisa Kadochnikova
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Larisa Kadochnikova is a Ukrainian and Russian actress. She appeared in Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, a 1964 film directed by Sergei Paradjanov, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors has been viewed as one of the most vivid and gratifying films of Soviet cinema as well as an exceedingly unorthodox one. The storyline revolves around two separated lovers caught in a family feud, the film created a stir worldwide, being praised for its direction, cinematography and soundtrack, among other aspects. Media related to Larisa Kadochnikova at Wikimedia Commons Larisa Kadochnikova at the Internet Movie Database
7.
Myroslav Skoryk
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Myroslav Skoryk is a Ukrainian composer and teacher. His music is contemporary in style and contains stylistic traits from Ukrainian folk traditions, Myroslav Skoryk was born in what was then the Polish city of Lwów, now the western Ukrainian of Lviv. His parents were educated in Austria at the University of Vienna and subsequently became educators. His father was a historian and an ethnographer, while his mother was a chemist, although his parents did not have special musical training, his mother played piano and his father played the violin. Skoryk was exposed to music in the household from an early age, No less important was the fact that in his family was a well-known diva of the 20th century – Skoryks great aunt was the Ukrainian soprano Solomiya Krushelnytska. In 1947 Skoryks family were deported to Siberia, where Myroslav grew up, between 1955 and 1960 Skoryk studied at the Lviv Conservatory, and there he received training in composition and theory. Skoryk’s final exam piece was a Cantata Vesna, on verses of Ivan Franko for soloists, mixed choir, in 1960, Skoryk enrolled in the postgraduate research program at the Moscow Conservatory where he studied with the composer Dmitri Kabalevsky. During this time, Skoryk composed music in a vast array of styles, symphonic, chamber, and vocal. Some works from this include the Suite in D Major for Strings, Sonata No.1 for Violin and Piano. His Burlesque came to be a work in piano competitions, most notably the Vladimir Horowitz Piano Competition in Kiev, Ukraine. Skoryk graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1964 and took a job at the Lviv Conservatory where he remained until 1966. Shortly after, he accepted a position at the Kiev Conservatory where he said, Along with teaching composition classes, the subject of Skoryk’s dissertation, which he completed in 1964, concentrated on Prokofiev’s music, its title reads Osoblyvosti ladu muzyky S. Prokofieva. Skoryk also wrote a book, Struktura i vyrazhalna pryroda akordyky v muzitsi XX stolittia as well as numerous articles, notable students include the composers Osvaldas Balakauskas, Ivan Karabyts and Yevhan Stankovych, as well as Hanna Havrylets and Bohdana Frolyak. In 1996 Skoryk lived for a time with his family in Australia and received Australian citizenship, Myroslav Skoryk is a composer, pianist and conductor. 2014/music/44857 Skoryk, Myroslav Mykhaylovych in Grove Music Online, accessed 1 September 2015
8.
Ukrainian language
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Ukrainian /juːˈkreɪniən/ is an East Slavic language. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic script, historical linguists trace the origin of the Ukrainian language to the Old East Slavic of the early medieval state of Kievan Rus. After the fall of the Kievan Rus as well as the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, the Modern Ukrainian language has been in common use since the late 17th century, associated with the establishment of the Cossack Hetmanate. From 1804 until the Russian Revolution, the Ukrainian language was banned from schools in the Russian Empire and it has always maintained a sufficient base in Western Ukraine, where the language was never banned, in its folklore songs, itinerant musicians, and prominent authors. The Ukrainian language retains a degree of intelligibility with Belarusian and Russian. The first theory of the origin of Ukrainian language was suggested in Imperial Russia in the middle of the 18th century by Mikhail Lomonosov and this theory posits the existence of a common language spoken by all East Slavic people in the time of the Rus. Another point of view developed during the 19th and 20th centuries by linguists of Imperial Russia, like Lomonosov, they assumed the existence of a common language spoken by East Slavs in the past. This general point of view is the most accepted amongst academics worldwide, the supporters of this theory disagree, however, about the time when the different languages were formed. Soviet scholars set the divergence between Ukrainian and Russian only at time periods. During the time of the incorporation of Ruthenia into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and this point of view is, however, at variance with some historical data. In fact, several East Slavic tribes, such as Polans, Drevlyans, Severians, Dulebes, White Croats, Tiverians, notably, some Ukrainian features were recognizable in the southern dialects of Old East Slavic as far back as the language can be documented. In contrast, Ahatanhel Krymsky and Alexei Shakhmatov assumed the existence of the spoken language of Eastern Slavs only in prehistoric times. According to their point of view, the diversification of the Old East Slavic language took place in the 8th or early 9th century, Ukrainian linguist Stepan Smal-Stotsky went even further, denying the existence of a common Old East Slavic language at any time in the past. Similar points of view were shared by Yevhen Tymchenko, Vsevolod Hantsov, Olena Kurylo, Ivan Ohienko, according to this theory, the dialects of East Slavic tribes evolved gradually from the common Proto-Slavic language without any intermediate stages during the 6th through 9th centuries. The Ukrainian language was formed by convergence of tribal dialects, mostly due to a migration of the population within the territory of todays Ukraine in later historical periods. This point of view was supported by George Shevelovs phonological studies. During the 13th century, when German settlers were invited to Ukraine by the princes of Galicia-Vollhynia and their influence would continue under Poland not only through German colonists but also through the Yiddish-speaking Jews. Often such words involve trade or handicrafts, examples of words of German or Yiddish origin spoken in Ukraine include dakh, rura, rynok, kushnir, and majster
9.
Ukrainians
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Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is by total population the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term Ukrainians to all its citizens, also among historical names of the people of Ukraine Rusyns, Cossacks, etc. can be found. According to some definitions, a descriptive name for the inhabitants of Ukraine is Ukrainian or Ukrainian people. Belarusians and Russians are considered among the bloodline of Ukrainians, while Rusyns are another closely related group, the ethnonym Ukrainians became widely accepted only in the 20th century after their territory obtained distinctive statehood in 1917. People of these territories were usually called Rus or Rusyns, the Ukrainian language appeared in the 14th – 16th centuries, but at that time, it was mostly known as Ruthenian, like its brothers. In the 16th – 17th centuries, with the establishment of the Zaporizhian Sich, however, the ethnonym Ukrainians and the linguonym Ukrainian were used only occasionally, and the people of Ukraine usually continued to call themselves and their language Ruthenian. This official name did not spread widely among the peasantry constituted the majority of the population. Ukrainian peasants still referred to their country as Ukraine and to themselves, in areas outside the control of the Russian/Soviet state until the mid-20th century, Ukrainians were known by their pre-existing names for much longer. The modern name derives from Ukrayina, a name first documented in 1187. Several scientific theories attempt to explain the etymology of the term, according to some new alternative Ukrainian historians such as Hryhoriy Pivtorak, Vitaly Sklyarenko and other scholars, translate the term u-kraine as in-land, home-land or our-country. The name in this context derives from the word u-kraina in the sense of domestic region, in the last few centuries the population of Ukraine experienced periods of Polonization and Russification, but preserved a common culture and a sense of common identity. Most ethnic Ukrainians live in Ukraine, where make up over three-quarters of the population. The inhabitants of the Kuban, for example, have vacillated among three identities, Ukrainian, Russian, and Cossack, approximately 800,000 people of Ukrainian ancestry live in the Russian Far East in an area known historically as Green Ukraine. According to some assumptions, an estimated number of almost 2.1 million people of Ukrainian origin live in North America. Large numbers of Ukrainians live in Brazil, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Poland, Argentina, Belarus, Portugal, there are also Ukrainian diasporas in the UK, Australia, Germany, Latvia, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Ireland, Sweden and the former Yugoslavia. Today, large ethnic Ukrainian minorities reside in Russia, Canada, Ukrainians have one of the largest diasporas in the world. The East Slavs emerged from the undifferentiated early Slavs with the Slavic migrations in the 6th and 7th centuries CE, the East Slavs were united in the Kievan Rus during the 9th to 13th centuries. East Slavic tribes cited as proto-Ukrainian include the Volhynians, Derevlianians, Polianians, and Siverianians and the less significant Ulychians, Tivertsians, the Gothic historian Jordanes and 6th-century Byzantine authors named two groups that lived in the south-east of Europe, Sclavins and Antes
10.
Hutsuls
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Hutsuls are an ethno-cultural group of Ukrainians, who for centuries have inhabited the Carpathian mountains, mainly in Ukraine and in the northern extremity of Romania. Hutsuls regard themselves as being part of the broader Rusyn ethnic minority and/or as Ukrainian highlanders, there are different versions for the origins of the name Hutsul. An explanation is that it comes from the Romanian word for outlaw, however these are obsolete and non-academic assertions. No valid theories have been proposed yet, the name is mostly an exonym, used by neighbouring groups and not Hutsuls themselves, although some have embraced it. Hutsuls inhabit areas situated between the south-east of those inhabited by the Boykos, down to the part of the Romanian segment of the Carpathians. Several hypotheses account for the origin of the Hutsuls, according to Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga, huțuli or huțani are denationalized Romanians. According to Ukrainian sources, some Hutsuls identify themselves as a part of Ukrainian ethnos, Hutsul is usually considered to be a dialect of Western Ukrainian with some Polish influences. However, some regard it as a form of the Rusyn language. Since the annexation of Transcarpathia by Stalin compulsory education has been conducted only in standardized literary Ukrainian, in recent times there has been a roots movement to keep the traditional Hutsul dialect alive. Along with other Hutsul traditions, as well as their songs and dances, Ukrainian Hutsul culture bears a resemblance to neighboring cultures of western and southwestern Ukraine, particularly Lemkos and Boykos. These groups also share similarities with other Slavic highlander peoples, such as the Gorals in Poland, similarities have also been noted with some Vlach cultures such as the Moravian Wallachians in the Czech Republic, as well as some cultures in Romania. Most Hutsuls belong to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Hutsul society was traditionally based on forestry and logging, as well as cattle and sheep breeding, the Hutsuls are credited with having created the breed of horse known as the Hucul pony. One of the attributes of Hutsul males is their bartok. They use unique musical instruments, including the trembita, a type of alpenhorn, as well multiple varieties of the fife, or sopilka, also frequently used are the bagpipe, the Jews harp, and the hammered dulcimer. Sergei Parajanovs 1965 film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, which is based on the book by Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, every summer, the village of Sheshory in Ukraine hosts a three-day international festival of folk music and art. Two Hutsul-related museums are located in Kolomyia, Ukraine, the Pysanky museum, traditional Hutsul sounds and moves were effectively used by the Ukrainian winner of the 2004 Eurovision song contest, Ruslana Lyzhychko. The Romanian Hutsuls have a Festival of Hutsuls at the Moldova-Sulița village in Suceava county
11.
Carpathian Mountains
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The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a mountain range system forming an arc roughly 1,500 km long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe. The Carpathians and their foothills also have many thermal and mineral waters, the Carpathians consist of a chain of mountain ranges that stretch in an arc from the Czech Republic in the northwest through Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Ukraine to Romania and Serbia. The highest range within the Carpathians is the Tatras, on the border of Slovakia and Poland, the second-highest range is the Southern Carpathians in Romania, where the highest peaks exceed 2,500 m. The divisions of the Carpathians are usually in three sections, Western Carpathians — Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia. Eastern Carpathians — southeastern Poland, eastern Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, the term Outer Carpathians is frequently used to describe the northern rim of the Western and Eastern Carpathians. The most important cities in or near the Carpathians are, Bratislava and Košice in Slovakia, Kraków in Poland, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu and Braşov in Romania, and Uzhhorod in Ukraine. In modern times, the range is called Karpaty in Czech, Polish, Slovak and Карпати in Ukrainian, Carpați in Romanian, Karpaten in German, Kárpátok in Hungarian and Karpati or Карпати in Serbian. Although the toponym was recorded already by Ptolemy in the 2nd century CE, for instance, Havasok was its medieval Hungarian name, Rus and Romanian chronicles referred to it as Hungarian Mountains. The archaic Polish word karpa meant rugged irregularities, underwater obstacles/rocks, the more common word skarpa means a sharp cliff or other vertical terrain. In late Roman documents, the Eastern Carpathian Mountains were referred to as Montes Sarmatici, the Western Carpathians were called Carpates, a name that is first recorded in Ptolemys Geographia. In the Scandinavian Hervarar saga, which relates ancient Germanic legends about battles between Goths and Huns, the name Karpates appears in the predictable Germanic form as Harvaða fjöllum, inter Alpes Huniae et Oceanum est Polonia by Gervase of Tilbury, has described in his Otia Imperialia in 1211. Thirteenth- to fifteenth-century Hungarian documents named the mountains Thorchal, Tarczal or less frequently Montes Nivium, the northwestern Carpathians begin in Slovakia and southern Poland. They surround Transcarpathia and Transylvania in a semicircle, sweeping towards the southeast. The total length of the Carpathians is over 1,500 km, the highest altitudes of the Carpathians occur where they are widest. The Carpathians cover an area of 190,000 km2 and, after the Alps, although commonly referred to as a mountain chain, the Carpathians do not actually form an uninterrupted chain of mountains. Rather, they consist of several orographically and geologically distinctive groups, the Carpathians at their highest altitude are only as high as the middle region of the Alps, with which they share a common appearance, climate, and flora. The Carpathians are separated from the Alps by the Danube, the two ranges meet at only one point, the Leitha Mountains at Bratislava. The river also separates them from the Balkan Mountains at Orşova in Romania, the valley of the March and Oder separates the Carpathians from the Silesian and Moravian chains, which belong to the middle wing of the great Central Mountain System of Europe
12.
Ukraine
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Ukraine is currently in territorial dispute with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014 but which Ukraine and most of the international community recognise as Ukrainian. Including Crimea, Ukraine has an area of 603,628 km2, making it the largest country entirely within Europe and it has a population of about 42.5 million, making it the 32nd most populous country in the world. The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC, during the Middle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture, with the powerful state of Kievan Rus forming the basis of Ukrainian identity. Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled and divided by a variety of powers, including Lithuania, Poland, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries, two brief periods of independence occurred during the 20th century, once near the end of World War I and another during World War II. Before its independence, Ukraine was typically referred to in English as The Ukraine, following independence, Ukraine declared itself a neutral state. Nonetheless it formed a limited partnership with the Russian Federation and other CIS countries. In the 2000s, the government began leaning towards NATO, and it was later agreed that the question of joining NATO should be answered by a national referendum at some point in the future. Former President Viktor Yanukovych considered the current level of co-operation between Ukraine and NATO sufficient, and was against Ukraine joining NATO and these events formed the background for the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, and the War in Donbass in April 2014. On 1 January 2016, Ukraine applied the economic part of the Deep, Ukraine has long been a global breadbasket because of its extensive, fertile farmlands and is one of the worlds largest grain exporters. The diversified economy of Ukraine includes a heavy industry sector, particularly in aerospace. Ukraine is a republic under a semi-presidential system with separate powers, legislative, executive. Its capital and largest city is Kiev, taking into account reserves and paramilitary personnel, Ukraine maintains the second-largest military in Europe after that of Russia. Ukrainian is the language and its alphabet is Cyrillic. The dominant religion in the country is Eastern Orthodoxy, which has strongly influenced Ukrainian architecture, literature, there are different hypotheses as to the etymology of the name Ukraine. According to the older and most widespread hypothesis, it means borderland, while more recently some studies claim a different meaning, homeland or region. The Ukraine now implies disregard for the sovereignty, according to U. S. ambassador William Taylor. Neanderthal settlement in Ukraine is seen in the Molodova archaeological sites include a mammoth bone dwelling
13.
Socialist realism
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Socialist realism is a style of realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in that country as well as in other socialist countries. Socialist realism is characterized by the depiction of communist values, such as the emancipation of the proletariat. Although related, it should not be confused with social realism, Socialist realism was the predominant form of approved art in the Soviet Union from its development in the early 1920s to its eventual fall from popularity in the late 1960s. While other countries have employed a prescribed canon of art, socialist realism in Soviet Union persisted longer and was more restricted than elsewhere in Europe, Socialist realism was developed by many thousands of artists, across a diverse society, over several decades. Early examples of realism in Russian art include the work of the Peredvizhnikis, while these works do not have the same political connotation, they exhibit the techniques exercised by their successors. After the Bolsheviks took control of Russia on October 25,1917, there had been a short period of artistic exploration in the time between the fall of the Tsar and the rise of the Bolsheviks. In 1917, Russian artists began to return to traditional forms of art. Shortly after the Bolsheviks took control, Anatoly Lunacharsky was appointed as head of Narkompros and this put Lunacharsky in the position of deciding the direction of art in the newly created Soviet state. Lunacharsky created a system of aesthetics based on the body that would become the main component of socialist realism for decades to come. He believed that the sight of a body, intelligent face or friendly smile was essentially life-enhancing. He concluded that art had an effect on the human organism. By depicting the perfect person, Lunacharsky believed art could educate citizens on how to be the perfect Soviets, there were two main groups debating the fate of Soviet art, futurists and traditionalists. Russian Futurists, many of whom had been creating abstract or leftist art before the Bolsheviks, believed communism required a complete rupture from the past and, therefore, traditionalists believed in the importance of realistic representations of everyday life. By 1928, the Soviet government had enough strength and authority to end private enterprises, at this point, although the term socialist realism was not being used, its defining characteristics became the norm. The first time the term socialist realism was officially used was in 1932, the term was settled upon in meetings that included politicians of the highest level, including Stalin himself. Maxim Gorky, a proponent of literary socialist realism, published an article titled Socialist Realism in 1933. During the Congress of 1934 four guidelines were laid out for socialist realism, the work must be, Proletarian, art relevant to the workers and understandable to them. Typical, scenes of life of the people
14.
Leonid Yengibarov
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Leonid Georgievich Yengibarov was a Soviet clown and actor. Leonid Yengibarov was born in Moscow to an Armenian father and a Russian mother and he started his career as a boxer. In 1955 he joined the State School of Circus Art, Clownship department and he graduated from Circus school with skills in juggling, acrobatics, and hand balancing. After graduation in 1959 he moved to Yerevan and joined the Armenian state circus and he was one of the first Soviet clowns to create the poetic, intellectual clownery, which made spectators think, not only laugh. Leonid Yengibarov, the clown with sad eyes, revolutionized the art of clownery by introducing lyrical tones into traditional buffoonery, according to the Spectacle journal, he has shown the direction. He began to do clown gags that were not funny, and he felt that life was not funny anymore. After initial incomprehension, his popularity grew immensely, after that he was invited to work in cinema. His first film, A Path to the Arena, was in fact about himself, by the end of the 1960s he was known as one of the best clowns in the country and in the countries of the Eastern bloc, where he was permitted to travel. His circus career came to a halt in 1971, he left the State Circus when his partner was banned from international touring and he created a Variety Pantomime Theatre instead. However officially he was forbidden to call his company “theatre”, only allowed to use the term “troupe” and he managed to stage only a single piece, “Star Rain” before his untimely death from a massive heart attack. His work continues influencing other artists including Slava Polunin and his friend Vladimir Vysotsky wrote a shrill poem To memory of the actor, To Yengibarov from the audience. Alla Pugacheva dedicated her song Arlekino to Yengibarov, He was my favourite clown, just think, he died from laughter. 1963, A Path to the Arena, Путь на арену1964, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, Тени забытых предков1966, Aybolit-66, Айболит-661971, A Necklace for My Beloved, leonid Yengibarov at the Internet Movie Database Yerevan Circus
15.
Dovzhenko Film Studios
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The Dovzhenko Film Studios is a former Soviet film production studios located in Ukraine that were named after the Ukrainian film producer, Alexander Dovzhenko, in 1957. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the became a property of the government of Ukraine. Since 2000 the film studios were awarded status national and its history the studios begin in 1920s when the All-Ukrainian Photo-Cinema-Directorate announced concourse on a project proposition for the construction of a cinema-factory in 1925. Out of 20 of them was chosen the project of Valerian Rykov who led his architect group composed of students of the Architectural Department of Kyiv Art Institute. With the construction of the O. Dovzhenko Film Studios beginning in 1927, although the filming pavilions were still unfinished a year later, movie production had begun. Many memorial plates are located within the studios in memory of the film producers which had once worked here. One film pavilion is named Shchorsivskyi, because Olexandr Dovzhenko shot his movie, Shchors and this area of the studios is currently used as a museum. The apple orchard located on the side of the avenue near the studios was planted by the order of Dovzhenko himself, since 1957, they were named in memory of Alexander Dovzhenko. In December 2009 a studio for the restoration of Ukrainian films was opened on the complex. ISBN 966-96041-3-3 Dovzhenko Film Studios at the Internet Movie Database Non-official site of Olexandr Dovzhenko Film Studios Official site of Olexandr Dovzhenko Film Studios
16.
A Hawk and a Hacksaw
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A Hawk and a Hacksaw is an American folk duo from Albuquerque, New Mexico, currently signed to L. M. Dupli-cation. The band consists of accordionist Jeremy Barnes, who was previously the drummer for Neutral Milk Hotel and Bablicon, the music is inspired by Eastern European, Turkish and Balkan traditions, and is mostly instrumental. They have released six albums and have toured internationally, the first four albums and an E. P. were released on The Leaf Label and afterwards on their own label L. M. Duplication. While Barnes lived in Chicago, he himself in a Ukrainian area with many people from Eastern Europe. The bands self-titled first album recorded by Barnes in the south of France, was released in 2002 and it provided the soundtrack for the documentary Zizek. Directed by Astra Taylor, which features Slovenian cultural theorist Slavoj Žižek, in March 2005 the band released their second album Darkness at Noon, recorded in England, the Czech Republic and New Mexico. It was during the recording of album that Barnes met Trost. In 2005, the band met Zach Condon of the band Beirut and gave his bedroom recordings to the independent label. They also played on the first Beirut album, Gulag Orkestar, the bands third record, The Way the Wind Blows, was partially recorded in the small Romanian village of Zece Prajini, and features members of the brass band Fanfare Ciocarlia. Barnes and Trost lived in Budapest for two years, délivrance was recorded in Budapest, Hungary and released in 2009. It includes collaborations with a number of Hungarian folk musicians, including Ferenc Kovacs, Balazs Ungar, in 2010, Barnes and Trost started their own label, L. M. Dupli-cation, and released their fifth album, Cervantine, in February 2011. It features guest performances from Stephanie and Chris Hladowski, a Hawk and A Hacksaw have appeared at the Roskilde Festival, The Green Man Festival, Pitchfork Music Festival, The Calgary Folk Fest, Wellington Arts Fest, among others. They have also toured with Wilco, Calexico, Andrew Bird, of Montreal, Beirut and they were chosen by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel to perform at the All Tomorrows Parties festival that he curated in March 2012 in Minehead, England. They performed a new and original soundtrack to Sergei Parajanovs 1964 classic, in 2013 they released the soundtrack as You Have Already Gone To The Other World. The name A Hawk and A Hacksaw is a reference to the book Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes, Don Quixote was written in 1605. This quotation comes from William Shakespeares Hamlet probably written in 1600, I am but mad north-north-west, the original quote was changed from Handsaw to Hacksaw to reference the Aksak meter that is prevalent in Balkan and Turkish music. In the original Don Quixote, Cervantes contrasted black and white rather than a hawk, Barnes explained the name as when I was starting, I felt like – and I still do feel like - Don Quixote
17.
IMDb
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In 1998 it became a subsidiary of Amazon Inc, who were then able to use it as an advertising resource for selling DVDs and videotapes. As of January 2017, IMDb has approximately 4.1 million titles and 7.7 million personalities in its database, the site enables registered users to submit new material and edits to existing entries. Although all data is checked before going live, the system has open to abuse. The site also featured message boards which stimulate regular debates and dialogue among authenticated users, IMDb shutdown the message boards permanently on February 20,2017. Anyone with a connection can read the movie and talent pages of IMDb. A registration process is however, to contribute info to the site. A registered user chooses a name for themselves, and is given a profile page. These badges range from total contributions made, to independent categories such as photos, trivia, bios, if a registered user or visitor happens to be in the entertainment industry, and has an IMDb page, that user/visitor can add photos to that page by enrolling in IMDbPRO. Actors, crew, and industry executives can post their own resume and this fee enrolls them in a membership called IMDbPro. PRO can be accessed by anyone willing to pay the fee, which is $19.99 USD per month, or if paid annually, $149.99, which comes to approximately $12.50 per month USD. Membership enables a user to access the rank order of each industry personality, as well as agent contact information for any actor, producer, director etc. that has an IMDb page. Enrolling in PRO for industry personnel, enables those members the ability to upload a head shot to open their page, as well as the ability to upload hundreds of photos to accompany their page. Anyone can register as a user, and contribute to the site as well as enjoy its content, however those users enrolled in PRO have greater access and privileges. IMDb originated with a Usenet posting by British film fan and computer programmer Col Needham entitled Those Eyes, others with similar interests soon responded with additions or different lists of their own. Needham subsequently started an Actors List, while Dave Knight began a Directors List, and Andy Krieg took over THE LIST from Hank Driskill, which would later be renamed the Actress List. Both lists had been restricted to people who were alive and working, the goal of the participants now was to make the lists as inclusive as possible. By late 1990, the lists included almost 10,000 movies and television series correlated with actors and actresses appearing therein. On October 17,1990, Needham developed and posted a collection of Unix shell scripts which could be used to search the four lists, at the time, it was known as the rec. arts. movies movie database
18.
The Color of Pomegranates
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The Color of Pomegranates is a 1969 Soviet film written and directed by Sergei Parajanov. It has appeared in some scholarly polls of the greatest films ever made, the Color of Pomegranates is a biography of the Armenian ashug Sayat-Nova that attempts to reveal the poets life visually and poetically rather than literally. There are sounds and music and occasional singing but dialogue is rare, each chapter is indicated by a title card and framed through both Sergei Parajanovs imagination and Sayat Novas poems. Actress Sofiko Chiaureli notably plays six roles in the film, both male and female, the director had claimed his inspiration was the Armenian illuminated miniatures. I wanted to create that inner dynamic that comes from inside the picture, the forms, some Russian versions of The Colour of Pomegranates have Special Edition features. The Memories of Sayat Nova, by Levon Grigoryan, is a 30 mins synopsis that explains what is happening in the tableaux and in each chapter of the poets life. G. Smalley asserts that every carefully composed image in The Colour of Pomegranates is coded to a meaning, but the key to interpreting them is missing. John church at Ardvi, and the Akhtala Monastery. Locations in Georgia included the Alaverdi Monastery, the surrounding the David Gareja monastery complex. Azerbaijani locations included the Old City and Nardaran Fortress, Soviet censors and Communist Party officials objected to Parajanovs stylized, poetic treatment of Sayat-Novas life and complained that it failed to educate the public about the poet. The noted Armenian writer Hrant Matevosyan wrote new, abstractly poetic Armenian-language chapter titles, officials further objected to the films abundance of religious imagery, although a great deal of religious imagery still remains in both surviving versions of the film. Initially the State Committee for Cinematography in Moscow refused to allow distribution of the film outside of Armenia and it premiered in Armenia in October 1969, with a running time of 77 minutes. In addition to cutting a few minutes worth of footage—some of it due to its religious content—he changed the order of some sequences. The film ultimately received only a release in the rest of the Soviet Union. In 2014 the film was restored and re-edited to be as close as possible to the director’s original vision. However, anything this purely mysterious has its magic, the Color of Pomegranates made the Top 10 list for 1982 in Cahiers du cinéma. According to Michelangelo Antonioni, Parajanovs Color of Pomegranates is of a stunningly perfect beauty, Parajanov, in my opinion, is one of the best film directors in the world. The work ranked 84th in the 2012 Sight & Sound critics poll of the worlds greatest films, the film holds a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The Color of Pomegranates was referenced in the films Peter Greenaway in Indianapolis, clips from the movie are also used in the music video for the song Love Is A Silent Thief by the Georgian-born singer Katie Melua
19.
Ashik Kerib (film)
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Ashik Kerib is a 1988 film by the Soviet- Georgian and Armenian filmmakers Dodo Abashidze and Sergei Parajanov based on the short story of the same name by Mikhail Lermontov. It was Parajanovs last completed film and was dedicated to his close friend Andrei Tarkovsky, the film also features a detailed portrayal of Azerbaijani culture. Poor Ashik Kerib plays the Bağlama at weddings and other celebrations and he falls in love with Magul-Megeri who is a daughter of a rich man but her father opposes since Ashik Kerib is poor and he expects rich prospects for his daughter from heaven. Ashik Kerib vows to wander for seven years to get rich or die, a rival steals clothes from Ashik Kerib. Others think that Ashik Kerib drowned, Ashik Keribs mother loses her vision from the tears that she cried. His rival persistently tries to get Magul Mahers hand in marriage, the poor musician goes to the Sultan and sings about his love. The Sultan really enjoys his song and bestows gold to Ashik Kerib, for seven years he lives in abundance and almost forgets his bride. After a wonderful meeting with a rider on a white horse Ashik Kerib is able to fulfill every wish with the help of a magical means. He moves to his village and finds himself at the wedding of his beloved who was taken away. In the house of the man he is ridiculed because people find out that Ashik Kerib assures his listeners that he has made his long journey in a blink of an eye which usually takes more than a day. The furious bride threatens to kill Ashik Kerib, to prove the veracity of his words he requests to bring his blind mother to the wedding feast. The heartbroken woman who is convinced of her sons death is brought into the room where the guests gathered, Ashik Kerib rubs his mothers unseeing eyes with a white handkerchief and returns her vision. The shamed opponent runs away and Ashik Kerib celebrates his victory clad in white, the entire story is told in a way of Azerbaijan folklore with music and colour playing a key role. Dialogue is minimal and scripts are used to narrate the plot changes, the director included intentional anachronisms such as the use of submachine guns and a movie camera. Ashik Kerib similarly explores traditional Azerbaijani clothes, music, dance, art,1988 — Felix Award, Presented to the artists Georgi Aleksi-Meskhishvili, Niko Zandukeli and Shota Gogolashvili. com
20.
History of Ukraine
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The territory of Ukraine was inhabited by Neanderthals for at least 44,000 years. After a 1648 rebellion against dominantly Polish Catholic rule, an assembly of the agreed to the Treaty of Pereyaslav in January 1654. Soon, the portion of the Polish-Lithuanian empire east of the Dnieper River came under Russian rule. After the Partitions of Poland and conquest of Crimean Khanate, Ukraine was divided between the Tsardom of Russia and Habsburg Austria, a chaotic period of warfare ensued after the Russian Revolution. The internationally recognised Ukrainian Peoples Republic emerged from its own civil war, the Ukrainian–Soviet War followed, in which the bolsheviks Red Army established control in late 1919. Initial Soviet policy on Ukrainian language and Ukrainian culture made Ukrainian the official language of administration, policy in the 1930s turned to russification. In 1932 and 1933, millions of people, mostly peasants, in Ukraine starved to death in a devastating famine and it is estimated that 6 to 8 million people died from hunger in the Soviet Union during this period, of whom 4 to 5 million were Ukrainians. Nikita Khrushchev was appointed the head of the Ukrainian Communist Party in 1938, after the 1939 invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and Soviet Union, the Ukrainian SSRs territory was enlarged westward. Ukraine was occupied by Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944, during World War II the Ukrainian Insurgent Army fought for Ukrainian independence against both Germany and the Soviet Union. In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the members of the United Nations. After Stalins death, as head of the Communist Party of Soviet Union, nevertheless, there were further political repressions against poets, historians and other intellectuals, like in all other parts of the USSR. In 1954, the republic expanded to the south with the transfer of the Crimea, Ukraine became independent again when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. This started a period of transition to an economy, in which Ukraine suffered an eight-year recession. Since then, however, the economy has experienced an increase in GDP growth. Ukraine was caught up in the economic crisis in 2008. GDP fell 20% from spring 2008 to spring 2009, then leveled off, the prolonged Ukrainian crisis began on 21 November 2013, when then-president Viktor Yanukovych suspended preparations for the implementation of an association agreement with the European Union. This decision resulted in protests by its supporters, known as the Euromaidan. After months of protests, Yanukovych was ousted by the protesters on 22 February 2014
21.
East Slavs
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The East Slavs are Slavic peoples speaking East Slavic languages. Formerly the main population of the state of Kievan Rus. Researchers know relatively little about the Eastern Slavs prior to approximately 859 AD, zealous Christian missions burned and destroyed all evidences of history of the people before that. The Eastern Slavs of these early times apparently lacked a written language, the few known facts come from archaeological digs, foreign travellers accounts of the Rus land, and linguistic comparative analyses of Slavic languages. Very few native Rus documents dating before the 11th century have survived, the earliest major manuscript with information on Rus history, the Primary Chronicle, dates from the late 11th and early 12th centuries. There is no consensus among scholars as to the urheimat of the Slavs, in the first millennium AD, Slavic settlers are likely to have been in contact with other ethnic groups who moved across the East European Plain during the Migration Period. Between the first and ninth centuries, the Sarmatians, Huns, Alans, Avars, Bulgars, although some of them could have subjugated the regions Slavs, these foreign tribes left little trace in the Slavic lands. The Early Middle Ages also saw Slavic expansion as an agriculturist and beekeeper, hunter, fisher, herder, by the 8th century, the Slavs were the dominant ethnic group on the East European Plain. By 600 AD, the Slavs had split linguistically into southern, western, the East Slavs practiced slash-and-burn agricultural methods which took advantage of the extensive forests in which they settled. This method of agriculture involved clearing tracts of forest with fire, cultivating it, the East Slavs flooded Eastern Europe in two streams. Another group of East Slavs moved from Pomerania to the northeast, the same Slavic population also settled the present-day Tver Oblast and the region of Beloozero. Having reached the lands of the Merya near Rostov, they linked up with the Dnieper group of Slavic migrants. Roughly in the period, the Ilmen Slavs and Krivichs were dominated by the Varangians of the Rus Khaganate. The earliest tribal centres of the East Slavs included Novgorod, Izborsk, Polotsk, Gnezdovo, archaeology indicates that they appeared at the turn of the tenth century, soon after the Slavs and Finns of Novgorod had rebelled against the Norsemen and forced them to withdraw to Scandinavia. The reign of Oleg of Novgorod in the tenth century witnessed the return of the Varangians to Novgorod. From this base, the mixed Varangian-Slavic population launched several expeditions against Constantinople, at first the ruling elite was primarily Norse, but it was rapidly Slavicized by the mid-century. Sviatoslav I of Kiev was the first Rus ruler with a Slavonic name, the disintegration, or parcelling of the polity of Kievan Rus in the 11th century resulted in considerable population shifts and a political, social, and economic regrouping. This article incorporates public domain material from the Library of Congress Country Studies website http, //lcweb2. loc. gov/frd/cs/
22.
Kievan Rus'
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Kievan Rus was a loose federation of East Slavic tribes in Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century, under the reign of the Rurik dynasty. The modern peoples of Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia all claim Kievan Rus as their cultural ancestors, according to Russian historiography the first ruler to start uniting East Slavic lands into what has become known as Kievan Rus was Prince Oleg. He extended his control from Novgorod south along the Dnieper river valley to protect trade from Khazar incursions from the east, Sviatoslav I achieved the first major expansion of Kievan Rus territorial control, fighting a war of conquest against the Khazars. Vladimir the Great introduced Christianity with his own baptism and, by decree, extended it to all inhabitants of Kiev and beyond. Kievan Rus reached its greatest extent under Yaroslav the Wise, his sons assembled and issued its first written legal code, the state declined beginning in the late 11th century and during the 12th century, disintegrating into various rival regional powers. The state finally fell to the Mongol invasion of the 1240s. During its existence, Kievan Rus was known as the land of the Rus, in Greek as Ῥωσία, in Old French as Russie, Rossie, in Latin as Russia, and from the 12th century also Ruthenia. Various etymologies have been proposed, including Ruotsi, the Finnish designation for Sweden, and Ros, the term Kievan Rus was coined in the 19th century in Russian historiography to refer to the period when the centre was in Kiev. Later, the Russian term was rendered into Belarusian and Ukrainian as Кіеўская Русь Kijeŭskaja Rus’ and Ки́ївська Русь Kyivska Rus’, prior to the emergence of Kievan Rus in the 9th century AD, the lands between the Baltic Sea and Black Sea were primarily populated by eastern Slavic tribes. In the northern region around Novgorod were the Ilmen Slavs and neighboring Krivichi, who occupied territories surrounding the headwaters of the West Dvina, Dnieper, to their north, in the Ladoga and Karelia regions, were the Finnic Chud tribe. In the south, in the area around Kiev, were the Poliane, a group of Slavicized tribes with Iranian origins, the Drevliane to the west of the Dnieper, and the Severiane to the east. To their north and east were the Vyatichi, and to their south was forested land settled by Slav farmers, controversy persists over whether the Rus’ were Varangians or Slavs. This uncertainty is due largely to a paucity of contemporary sources, attempts to address this question instead rely on archaeological evidence, the accounts of foreign observers, legends and literature from centuries later. To some extent the controversy is related to the myths of modern states in the region. According to the Normanist view, the Rus were Scandinavians, while Russian and Ukrainian nationalist historians generally argue that the Rus were themselves Slavs. Normanist theories focus on the earliest written source for the East Slavs, nevertheless, archaeological evidence from the area suggests that a Scandinavian population was present during the 10th century at the latest. On balance, it likely that the Rus proper were a small minority of Scandinavians who formed an elite ruling class. Liutprand of Cremona, who was twice an envoy to the Byzantine court, identifies the Russi with the Norse, leo the Deacon, a 10th-century Byzantine historian and chronicler, refers to the Rus as Scythians and notes that they tended to adopt Greek rituals and customs
23.
Mongol invasion of Rus'
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As part of the Mongol invasion of Europe, the Mongol Empire invaded Kievan Rus in the 13th century, destroying numerous cities, including Ryazan, Kolomna, Moscow, Vladimir, and Kiev. The campaign was heralded by the Battle of the Kalka River in May 1223, a full-scale invasion of Rus by Batu Khan followed, from 1237 to 1240. The invasion was ended by the Mongol succession process upon the death of Ögedei Khan, all Rus principalities were forced to submit to Mongol rule and became part of the Golden Horde empire, some of which lasted until 1480. As it was undergoing fragmentation, Kievan Rus faced the unexpected eruption of a foreign foe coming from the mysterious regions of the Far East. For our sins, writes the Rus chronicler of the time, no one knew their origin or whence they came, or what religion they practiced. That is known only to God, and perhaps to wise men learned in books, the princes of Rus first heard of the coming Mongol warriors from the nomadic Cumans. In response to call, Mstislav the Bold and Mstislav Romanovich the Old joined forces and set out eastward to meet the foe. In the Secret History of the Mongols, the reference to this early battle is, Then he sent Dorbei the Fierce off against the city of Merv. He sent Subetei the Brave off to war in the North where he defeated eleven kingdoms and tribes, crossing the Volga and Ural Rivers, finally going to war with Kiev. The vast Mongol hordes of around 35,000 mounted archers, commanded by Batu Khan and Subutai, crossed the Volga River and it took them a year to extinguish the resistance of the Volga Bulgarians, the Cumans-Kipchaks, and the Alani. In November 1237, Batu Khan sent his envoys to the court of Yuri II of Vladimir, a month later, the hordes besieged Ryazan. After six days of battle, the city was totally annihilated. Alarmed by the news, Yuri II sent his sons to detain the invaders, having burnt down Kolomna and Moscow, the horde laid siege to Vladimir on February 4,1238. Three days later, the capital of Vladimir-Suzdal was taken and burnt to the ground, the royal family perished in the fire, while the grand prince retreated northward. Crossing the Volga, he mustered a new army, which was annihilated by the Mongols in the Battle of the Sit River on March 4. Chinese siege engines were used by the Mongols under Tului to raze the walls of Russian cities, the most difficult to take was the small town of Kozelsk, whose boy-prince Vasily, son of Titus, and inhabitants resisted the Mongols for seven weeks, killing 4,000. As the story goes, at the news of the Mongol approach, the town of Kitezh with all its inhabitants was submerged into a lake. The only major cities to escape destruction were Novgorod and Pskov, the Mongols were advancing on Novgorod but unexpectedly turned back at the site mentioned as Ignach Cross, of which the exact location is not known
24.
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
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The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 13th century until 1795. The state was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija, the Grand Duchy later expanded to include large portions of the former Kievan Rus and other Slavic lands, including territory of present-day Belarus, parts of Ukraine, Poland and Russia. At its greatest extent in the 15th century, it was the largest state in Europe and it was a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state with great diversity in languages, religion, and cultural heritage. Consolidation of the Lithuanian lands began in the late 12th century, Mindaugas, the first ruler of the Grand Duchy, was crowned as Catholic King of Lithuania in 1253. The pagan state was targeted in the crusade by the Teutonic Knights. The multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state emerged only at the reign of Gediminas. The reign of Vytautas the Great marked both the greatest territorial expansion of the Grand Duchy and the defeat of the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 and it also marked the rise of the Lithuanian nobility. After Vytautass death, Lithuanias relationship with the Kingdom of Poland greatly deteriorated, Lithuanian noblemen, including the Radvila family, attempted to break the personal union with Poland. However, the unsuccessful Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars with the Grand Duchy of Moscow forced the union to remain intact, eventually, the Union of Lublin of 1569 created a new state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In this federation, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania maintained its political distinctiveness and had separate government, laws, army, shortly after, the unitary character of the state was confirmed by adopting the Reciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations. The newly reformed Commonwealth was invaded by Russia in 1792 and partitioned between the neighbours, with a truncated state remaining only nominally independent, after the Kościuszko Uprising, the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and Austria in 1795. The Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania name the name of the state as Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Ruthenia and Samogitia. The title of Grand Duchy was consistently applied to Lithuania from the 14th century onward, in the 12th century, Slavic chronicles refer to Lithuania as one of the areas attacked by the Rus. Pagan Lithuanians initially paid tribute to Polotsk, but they grew in strength. The sudden spark of military raids marked consolidation of the Lithuanian lands in Aukštaitija, the Livonian Order and Teutonic Knights, crusading military orders, were established in Riga in 1202 and in Prussia in 1226. The Christian orders posed a significant threat to pagan Baltic tribes, the peace treaty with Galicia–Volhynia of 1219 provides evidence of cooperation between Lithuanians and Samogitians. This treaty lists 21 Lithuanian dukes, including five senior Lithuanian dukes from Aukštaitija, although they had battled in the past, the Lithuanians and the Žemaičiai now faced a common enemy. Likely Živinbudas had the most authority and at least several dukes were from the same families, the formal acknowledgment of common interests and the establishment of a hierarchy among the signatories of the treaty foreshadowed the emergence of the state
25.
Zaporozhian Cossacks
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Today much of its territory is flooded by the waters of Kakhovka Reservoir. The Zaporizhian Sich grew rapidly in the 15th century from serfs fleeing the more controlled parts of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and it became established as a well-respected political entity with a parliamentary system of government. The Host went through a series of conflicts and alliances involving the three powers, including supporting an uprising in the 18th century and their leader signed a treaty with the Russians. This group was disbanded in the late 18th century by the Russian Empire. The Cossacks served a role of conquering the Caucasian tribes. The name Zaporozhtsi comes from the location of their fortress, the Sich, in Zaporozhia and it is not clear when the first Cossack communities on the Lower Dnieper began to form. There are signs and stories of people living in the steppes as early as the 12th century AD. At that time they were not called Cossacks, since cossack is a Turkish word meaning a free man, during the early 12th century, other Asiatic tribes occupied the steppes to the north of the Black Sea, in such places as Polovci, Pechenihu, Kasahu and others. There were also groups of people who fled into these wild steppes from the lands of Kievan Rus in order to escape oppression or criminal pursuit. Their lifestyle largely resembled that of the now called Cossacks. They survived chiefly from hunting and fishing and raiding the Asiatic tribes for horses, in the 16th century, a great organizer, Dmytro Vyshnevetsky, a Ruthenian noble, united these different groups into a strong military organization. Cossacks were made up mostly of escaped serfs who preferred the dangerous freedom of the wild steppes, however, many serfs from Poland and Muscovy and even Tatars from Crimea could become part of the Cossack host. They had to accept Orthodox Christianity as their religion, and adopt its rituals, registered Cossacks were a part of the Commonwealth army until 1699. From the second part of the 16th century, the Cossacks started raiding Ottoman territories, the Polish government could not control the fiercely independent Cossacks but, since they were nominally subjects of the Commonwealth, it was held responsible for raids by their victims. Reciprocally, the Tatars living under the Ottoman rule launched raids in the Commonwealth, Cossacks, however, were raiding wealthy merchant port cities in the heart of the Ottoman Empire, which were just two days away by boat from the mouth of the Dnieper River. By 1615 and 1625, Cossacks had managed to raze townships on the outskirts of Constantinople, in internal agreements, forced by the Poles, the Cossacks agreed to burn their boats and stop raiding. However, boats could be rebuilt quickly, and the Cossack lifestyle glorified raids, during this time, the Habsburg Monarchy sometimes covertly employed Cossack raiders to ease Ottoman pressure on their own borders. Many Cossacks and Tatars shared an animosity towards each other due to the damage done by raids from both sides, Cossack raids followed by Tatar retaliation, or Tatar raids followed by Cossack retaliation, were an almost regular occurrence
26.
Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
27.
Galicia (Eastern Europe)
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Galicia is a historical and geographic region in Central-Eastern Europe, once a small Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria that straddled the modern-day border between Poland and Ukraine. The area, which is named after the city of Halych, was first mentioned in Hungarian historical chronicles in the year 1206 as Galiciæ. The nucleus of historic Galicia lies within the regions of western Ukraine, Lviv, Ternopil. In the 18th century, territories that became part of the modern Polish regions of Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. There is considerable overlap between Galicia and south-west Ruthenia, especially a cross-border region that is inhabited by various nationalities, Halych-Volhynia cut a swathe as a mighty principality under the reign of Roman the Great in 1170–1205. After the expulsion of the Hungarians in 1221, Ruthenians took back rule of the area, Romans son Daniel of Galicia was crowned king of Halych-Volhynia. He founded Lviv, named in honour of his son Leo I, the Ukrainian name Halych comes from the Khwalis or Kaliz who occupied the area from the time of the Magyars. They were also called Khalisioi in Greek, and Khvalis in Ukrainian, the Lypytsia culture supposedly replaced the existing Thracian Hallstatt and Vysotske cultures. Others assert that the name has Slavic origins – from halytsa, meaning a naked hill, the jackdaw was used as a charge in the citys coat of arms and later also in the coat of arms of Galicia. The name, however, predates the coat of arms, which may represent canting or simply folk etymology, although the Hungarians were driven out from Halych-Volhynia by 1221, Hungarian kings continued to add Galicia et Lodomeria to their official titles. In 1527, the Habsburgs inherited those titles, together with the Hungarian crown, in 1772, Empress Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary, decided to use those historical claims to justify her participation in the first partition of Poland. In fact, the territories acquired by Austria did not correspond exactly to those of former Halych-Volhynia, Volhynia, including the city of Volodymyr-Volynskyi – after which Lodomeria was named – was taken by Russia, not Austria. On the other hand, much of Lesser Poland – Nowy Sącz and Przemyśl, Zamość, Lublin, the full official name of the new Austrian province was Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria with the Duchies of Auschwitz and Zator. After the incorporation of the Free City of Kraków in 1846, it was extended to Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, each of those entities was formally separate, they were listed as such in the Austrian emperors titles, each had its distinct coat-of-arms and flag. For administrative purposes, however, they formed a single province, the duchies of Auschwitz and Zator were small historical principalities west of Kraków, on the border with Prussian Silesia. Lodomeria, under the name Volhynia, was not ruled by Austria, dale Dwellers, Krakowiacy, Mazury, Grębowiacy, Głuchoniemcy, Bełżanie, Bużanie, Opolanie, Wołyniacy, Pobereżcy or Nistrowianie. During the Great Migration period of Europe, a variety of nomadic groups invaded the area, overall, Slavs came to dominate the Celtic-German population. In the 12th century, a Rurikid Principality of Halych formed there, Galicia and Volhynia had originally been two separate Rurikid principalities, assigned on a rotating basis to younger members of the Kievan dynasty
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Ukraine after the Russian Revolution
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Ukrainian territory was fought over by various factions after the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the First World War, which added the collapse of Austria-Hungary to that of the Russian Empire. The crumbling of the empires had an effect on the Ukrainian nationalist movement. This period was characterized by optimism and nation-building, as well as chaos and it ended in 1921, with the territory of modern-day Ukraine divided between Soviet Ukraine and Poland, with small regions belonging to Czechoslovakia and Romania. After the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, Ukrainian community leaders were finally to organized the Central Rada in Kiev. They sought an approval of the Russian Provisional Government in Petrograd to establish a regional government and it quickly gained the support of elements of the Imperial Army in Ukraine. The UNR refused to recognize the newly installed Soviet government, which in turn caused a tension within the Central Rada, the Bolshevik government demanded an all-Russian union. The Bolsheviks faction convened an All-Ukrainian Congress of Workers, Soldiers and they declared the Bolshevik government of Ukraine on December 25,1917 and claimed that the government of the Ukrainian Peoples Republic were outlaws. Upon taking over the government in Petrograd, the Bolsheviks immediately sued for peace with the Central Powers. After more than two months of negotiations, the Bolsheviks led by Joffe signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, a treaty between Russia and the Central Powers, on March 3,1918. This treaty granted Ukraine independence from Russian control, an independent Ukraine was not a popular notion among Russians. An independent Ukraine coupled with the 1918 Russian great hunger greatly weakened the leadership of Lenin, the Congress of Free Hubbandmen on April 29,1918, elected tsarist general P. P. Skoropadsky as Hetman of Ukraine. He proclaimed the overthrow of the Central Rada Government thus suspending the UNR, Ukraine sent a note of protest requesting to cease the hostilities, Sovnarkom first ignored the request and later stated that it has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine. The Ukrainian government declared a war on January 16,1919, the Bolsheviks amid fluid alliances with various anarchists would eventually defeat the Ukrainian army that was fighting on several fronts simultaneously. Meanwhile, the Western Ukrainian Peoples Republic was declared in Lviv on October 19,1918, within the ZUNR were the largest oil reserves in Europe. The ZUNR formally joined the UNR in hope to some support in the war against Poland. A UNR delegation sent to Paris could not gain recognition at the Treaty of Versailles at the end of the World War, UNR forces fared poorly during Polish-Soviet War and a late alliance with Poland wasnt enough to secure the republic. Carpathian Ruthenia found itself in Czechoslovakia, and Bukovina in Romania, Ukraine was a rump state of its former self. The chaotic conditions in Ukraine attracted attention from the major powers, canadian scholar Orest Subtelny provides a context from the long span of European history, In 1919 total chaos engulfed Ukraine
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Ukrainian People's Republic
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Between April and December 1918 the Ukrainian Peoples Republic did not function, having been overthrown by the Ukrainian State of Pavlo Skoropadsky. From autumn 1919 the UNR operated as an ally of the Second Polish Republic, the 18 March 1921 Treaty of Riga between the Second Polish Republic, Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine sealed the fate of the Ukrainian Peoples Republic. These two sides fought constantly with each other, which resulted in casualties among Ukrainians fighting in a civil war as part of the wider Ukrainian-Soviet War of 1917-1921. The Soviet Union would extend control over what would become the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. On 10 June 1917 the Ukrainian Central Council declared its autonomy as part of the Russian Republic by its First Universal at the All-Ukrainian Military Congress, the highest governing body of the Ukrainian Peoples Republic became the General Secretariat headed by Volodymyr Vynnychenko. After the October Revolution the Kievan faction of the Bolshevik Party instigated the uprising in Kiev on November 8,1917 in order to establish Soviet power in the city. Kiev Military District forces attempted to stop it, but after the Tsentralna Rada threw its support behind the Bolsheviks, after expelling the government forces, the Rada announced a wider autonomy for the Ukrainian Republic, still maintaining ties to Russia, on November 22,1917. It also stated that the people of the governorates, Voronezh, Kholm, the Central Rada called all revolutionary activities such as the October Revolution a civil war and expressed its hopes for the resolution of the chaos. After a brief truce, the Bolsheviks realized that the Rada had no intention of supporting the Bolshevik Revolution and they re-organized into an All-Ukrainian Council of Soviets in December 1917 in an attempt to seize power. When that failed due to the Bolsheviks relative lack of popularity in Kiev, the Bolshevik Red Army entered Ukraine from the Russian SFSR in support of the local Soviet government. The Donetsk-Kryvoi Rog Republic was created by a decree of Lenin as part of the Russian SFSR with its capital in Kharkiv. That decree was implemented by Fyodor Sergeyev who became the chairman of the local government as well as joining the Soviet government of Ukraine. The congress accepted the declaration of a plan of Ukrainization of the Russian Army. The congress showed its support to the Ukrainian Central Council, Petty Council created of the Regional Committee in Protection of Revolution in Ukraine. The committee announced the extension of its powers over the nine Ukrainian governorates November 8 – the Ukrainian Central Council adopted a resolution which condemned the revolution, each deputy represents 100,000 of population, a right of vote have citizens of 20 years and older. International diplomatic missions transferred their offices from Mohyliv-Podilsky to Kiev, the Petty Council adopted the law about the new monetary system. The monetary unit became hryvnia that had 8.712 units of pure gold, less than a month later, on February 9,1918, the Red Army seized Kiev. Germany helped the Ukrainian Army force the Bolsheviks out of Ukraine, on February 20,1918 the council of the Kuban Peoples Republic accepted the resolution for a federal union of Kuban with Ukraine as Bolshevik forces pushed towards Yekaterinodar
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West Ukrainian People's Republic
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The West Ukrainian Peoples Republic was a short-lived republic that existed in late 1918 and early 1919 in eastern Galicia. It included the cities of Lviv, Przemyśl, Kolomyia and Stanislaviv and claimed parts of Bukovina, politically, the Ukrainian National Democratic Party dominated the legislative assembly, guided by varying degrees of Greek Catholic, liberal and socialist ideology. Other parties represented included the Ukrainian Radical Party and the Christian Social Party, the coat of arms of the West Ukrainian Peoples Republic was Azure, a lion rampant Or. The colours of the flag were blue and yellow, according to the Austro-Hungarian census of 1910, the territory claimed by the West Ukrainian Peoples Republic had about 5.4 million people. Of these,3,291,000 were Ukrainians,1,351,000 were Poles,660,000 were Jews, the cities and towns of this largely rural region were mostly populated by Poles and Jews, while the Ukrainians dominated the countryside. This would prove problematic for the Ukrainians, because the largest city, among the largest oil reserves in Europe were near Lviv at Drohobych and Boryslav in the upper Dniester River. Thus the stage was set for conflict between the West Ukrainian Peoples Republic and Poland, the West Ukrainian Peoples Republic was proclaimed on November 1,1918. A few weeks later Lvivs rebellious Poles received support from Poland, on November 9 Polish forces attempted to seize the Drohobych oil fields by surprise but were driven back, outnumbered by the Ukrainians. Meanwhile, two smaller states immediately west of the West Ukrainian Peoples Republic, also declared independence as result of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Komancza Republic was an association of thirty Lemko villages, based around Komańcza in eastern Lemkivshchyna. It existed between November 4,1918 and January 23,1919, being pro-Ukrainian it planned to unite with the West Ukrainian Peoples Republic, but was suppressed by the Polish government as part of the Polish–Ukrainian War. On December 5,1918 the Ruska Narodna Respublika Lemkiv also declared independence, the Lemko Rusyn National Republic was centered on Florynka, a village in the south-east of present-day Poland. Russophile sentiment prevailed among its inhabitants, who were opposed to a union with the West Ukrainian Peoples Republic, an agreement to unite western Ukraine with the rest of Ukraine was made as early as December 1,1918. The government of the West Ukrainian Peoples Republic officially united with the Ukrainian Peoples Republic on January 22,1919 and this was mostly a symbolic act, however. Since western Ukraine had a different tradition in its legal, social and political norms it was to be autonomous within a united Ukraine, furthermore, western Ukrainians retained their own Ukrainian Galician Army and government structure. Despite the formal union, the Western Ukrainian Republic and the Ukrainian Peoples Republic fought in separate wars, the former was preoccupied with a conflict with Poland while the latter struggled with Soviet and Russian forces. Relations between the West Ukrainian Peoples Republic and the Kiev-based Ukrainian Peoples Republic were somewhat strained, the leadership of the former tended to be more conservative in orientation. The poor discipline in Kievs army and the insubordination of its officers shocked the Galician delegates sent to Kiev, in July 1919, the West Ukrainian Peoples Republic established a government-in-exile in the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi. In August 1919, Kost Levytsky, head of the Western Ukrainian state secretariat, Western Ukrainian diplomats in Paris sought contact with Russian counterparts in that city
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Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
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The Ukrainian SSR was a founding member of the United Nations, although it was legally represented by the All-Union state in its affairs with countries outside of the Soviet Union. From the start, the city of Kharkiv served as the republics capital. However, in 1934, the seat of government was moved to the city of Kyiv. Geographically, the Ukrainian SSR was situated in Eastern Europe to the north of the Black Sea, bordered by the Soviet republics of Moldavia, Byelorussia, the Ukrainian SSRs border with Czechoslovakia formed the Soviet Unions western-most border point. According to the Soviet Census of 1989 the republic had a population of 51,706,746 inhabitants, the name Ukraine, derived from the Slavic word kraj, meaning land or border. It was first used to part of the territory of Kievan Rus in the 12th century. The name has been used in a variety of ways since the twelfth century, after the abdication of the tsar and the start of the process of the destruction of the Russian Empire many people in Ukraine wished to establish a Ukrainian Republic. During a period of war from 1917-23 many factions claiming themselves governments of the newly born republic were formed, each with supporters. The two most prominent of them were the government in Kyiv and the government in Kharkiv, the former being the Ukrainian Peoples Republic and the latter the Ukrainian Soviet Republic. This government of the Soviet Ukrainian Republic was founded on 24–25 December 1917, in its publications it names itself either the Republic of Soviets of Workers, Soldiers, and Peasants Deputies or the Ukrainian Peoples Republic of Soviets. The last session of the government took place in the city of Taganrog, in July 1918 the former members of the government formed the Communist Party of Ukraine, the constituent assembly of which took place in Moscow. On 10 March 1919, according to the 3rd Congress of Soviets in Ukraine the name of the state was changed to the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic. After the ratification of the 1936 Soviet Constitution, the names of all Soviet republics were changed, transposing the second, during its existence, the Ukrainian SSR was commonly referred to as Ukraine or the Ukraine. On 24 August 1991, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic declared independence, since the adoption of the Constitution of Ukraine in June 1996, the country became known simply as Ukraine, which is the name used to this day. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, several factions sought to create an independent Ukrainian state, the most popular faction was initially the local Socialist Revolutionary Party that composed the local government together with Federalists and Mensheviks. The Bolsheviks boycotted any government initiatives most of the time, instigating several armed riots in order to establish the Soviet power without any intent for consensus, immediately after the October Revolution in Petrograd, Bolsheviks instigated the Kiev Bolshevik Uprising to support the Revolution and secure Kyiv. Due to a lack of support from the local population and anti-revolutionary Central Rada, however. Most moved to Kharkiv and received the support of the eastern Ukrainian cities, later, this move was regarded as a mistake by some of the Peoples Commissars
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Chernobyl disaster
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The Chernobyl disaster, also referred to as the Chernobyl accident, was a catastrophic nuclear accident. Practically all of this material would then go on to fall-out/precipitate onto much of the surface of the western USSR. The Chernobyl accident dominates the Energy accidents sub-category, of most disastrous nuclear power plant accident in history, both in terms of cost and casualties. It is one of two nuclear energy accidents classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The remains of the No.3 continuing to produce electricity into 2000, the accident motivated safety upgrades on all remaining Soviet-designed reactors in the RBMK family, of which eleven continued to power electric grids as of 2013. These events exposed the graphite moderator of the reactor to air, the resulting fire sent week long plumes of highly radioactive fallout into the atmosphere over an extensive geographical area, including Pripyat. The plumes drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union. According to official data, about 60% of the fallout landed in Belarus. The surveying and detection of isolated fallout hotspots outside this zone over the year eventually resulted in 135,000 long-term evacuees in total. Many thousands of these evacuees would have been better off staying home, Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus have been burdened with the continuing and substantial decontamination and monthly compensation costs, of the Chernobyl accident.5 and 6, were eventually cancelled. There was a drop in the prior rate of new startups. The government coverup of the Chernobyl disaster was a catalyst for glasnost, a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency examines the environmental consequences of the accident. Thirty-one deaths are attributed to the accident, all among the reactor staff. An UNSCEAR report places the total confirmed deaths from radiation at 64 as of 2008. 01% of all incident cancers since the accident. Along similar lines, the 2006 TORCH report, commissioned by the European Greens political party, predicts an eventual 30,000 to 60,000 excess cancer deaths in total, greenpeace itself advocates a figure of at least 200,000 or more. Balonov published by the New York Academy of Sciences concludes that the report is of value because it has very little scientific merit while being highly misleading to the lay reader. It characterized the estimate of nearly a million deaths as more in the realm of fiction than science. On 26 April 1986, at 01,23, reactor four suffered a power increase
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Declaration of Independence of Ukraine
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The Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine was adopted by the Ukrainian parliament on 24 August 1991. The Act established Ukraine as an independent state, the Act was adopted in the aftermath of the coup attempt on 19 August when hardline Communist leaders of the Soviet Union tried to restore central Communist party control over the USSR. In response, the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR in a special Saturday session overwhelmingly approved the Act of Declaration, the Act passed with 321 votes in favor,2 votes against, and 6 abstentions. The author of the text was Levko Lukyanenko, if we dont vote for independence, it will be a disaster, stated first secretary of the CPU Stanislav Hurenko during the debate. The same day, the parliament called for a referendum on support for the Declaration of Independence, the proposal for calling the national referendum came jointly from opposition leaders Ihor Yukhnovsky and Dmytro Pavlychko. The Parliament also voted for the creation of a guard of Ukraine. Other than a crowd that had gathered at the Parliament building. On 26 August 1991 the executive committee of Kiev also voted to remove all the monuments of Communist heroes from public places, the large square would be renamed Maidan Nezalezhnosti as would the central Metro station below it, the executive committee decided. On 28 August 1991 more than 200,000 Lviv and Lviv oblast residents declared their readiness to serve in the national guard, since 1992, the 24th of August is celebrated in Ukraine as Independence Day. Poland and Canada were the first countries to recognize Ukraines independence, the same day the President of the Russian SFSR Boris Yeltsin did the same. The United States did so on 25 December 1991 and that month the independence of Ukraine was recognized by 68 states, and in 1992 it was recognized by another 64 states
34.
Orange Revolution
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Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, was the focal point of the movements campaign of civil resistance, with thousands of protesters demonstrating daily. Nationwide, the revolution was highlighted by a series of acts of civil disobedience, sit-ins. The nationwide protests succeeded when the results of the original run-off were annulled, under intense scrutiny by domestic and international observers, the second run-off was declared to be fair and free. The final results showed a victory for Yushchenko, who received about 52% of the vote. Yushchenko was declared the winner and with his inauguration on 23 January 2005 in Kiev. In the following years, the Orange Revolution had a negative connotation among pro-government circles in Belarus, Yanukovych was ousted from power four years later following the February 2014 Euromaidan clashes in Kievs Independence Square. Unlike the bloodless Orange Revolution, these resulted in more than 100 deaths. Georgiy Gongadze, a Ukrainian journalist and the founder of Ukrayinska Pravda was kidnapped and murdered in 2000, though no-one accused Ukrainian President Kuchma of personally murdering him, persistent rumours suggested that the President had ordered the killing. This murder sparked a movement against Kuchma in 2000 that can be seen as the origin of the Orange Revolution in 2004, the state of Ukraine during the 2004 presidential election is considered an “ideal condition” for an outburst from the public. During this time Ukrainians were impatient while waiting for economic and political transformation, the results of the election were thought to be fraudulent and considered “a nail in the coffin” of the preceding events. The Ukrainian regime that was in power before the Orange Revolution created a path for a society to emerge. It was based on a “competitive authoritarian regime” that is considered a “hybrid regime”, allowing for a democracy, the election fraud definitely emphasised the Ukrainian citizens’ desire for a more pluralistic type of government. The Cassette Scandal definitely sparked the public’s desire to create a reform movement. It not only undermined the peoples’ respect for Kuchma as a president, because of Kuchma’s scandalous behaviour, he lost many of his supporters with high ranking government positions. Many of the government officials who were on his side went on to support the election campaign of Yuschenko. After a clear lack of faith in the government had been instilled in the Ukrainian population, Yushchenko was a charismatic candidate who showed no signs of being corrupt. Yuschenko was on the level as his constituents and presented his ideas in a “non-Soviet” way. Young Ukrainian voters were extremely important to the outcome of the 2004 Presidential election and this new wave of younger people had different views of the main figures in Ukraine
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Ukrainian crisis
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A prolonged crisis in Ukraine began on 21 November 2013, when then-president Viktor Yanukovych suspended preparations for the implementation of an association agreement with the European Union. This decision resulted in protests by its proponents, known as the Euromaidan. After months of protests, Yanukovych was ousted by the protesters on 22 February 2014. Following his ousting, unrest enveloped the largely Russophone eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, an ensuing political crisis and Russian military intervention in the Ukrainian autonomous region of Crimea resulted in the annexation of Crimea by Russia on 18 March 2014. Ukraine became gripped by unrest when President Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign an agreement with the European Union on 21 November 2013. An organised political movement known as Euromaidan demanded closer ties with the European Union, and this movement was ultimately successful, culminating in the February 2014 revolution, which removed Yanukovych and his government. Following flight of President Yanukovych on 23 February 2014, protests by pro-Russian and these were followed by demonstrations in cities across eastern and southern Ukraine, including Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, and Odessa. Starting on 26 February 2014, pro-Russian armed men began to take over the peninsula. Russia initially said that these militants, termed little green men in Ukraine, were local self-defence forces. However, they admitted that these were in fact Russian soldiers without insignias. By 27 February, the Crimean parliament building had been seized by Russian forces, Russian flags were raised over these buildings, and a self-declared pro-Russian government said that it would hold a referendum on independence from Ukraine. Following that internationally unrecognised referendum, which was held on 16 March 2014, prior to a change of the top leadership in August 2014, the separatists were largely led by Russian citizens. Russian paramilitaries are reported to make up from 15% to 80% of the combatants and these events followed the reported shelling of Ukrainian positions from the Russian side of the border over the course of the preceding month. Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Valentyn Nalyvaichenko said that the events of 22 August were an invasion by Russia of Ukraine. Western and Ukrainian officials described these events as an invasion of Ukraine by Russia. As a result of this, DPR and LPR insurgents regained much of the territory they had lost during the government military offensive. A deal to establish a ceasefire, called the Minsk Protocol, was signed on 5 September 2014, violations of the ceasefire were common. The ceasefire completely collapsed in January 2015, heavy fighting resumed across the conflict zone, including at Donetsk International Airport and Debaltseve
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Euromaidan
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The scope of the protests expanded, with many calls for the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovych and his government. The protests led to the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, the situation escalated after the violent dispersal of protesters on 30 November, leading to many more protesters joining. By 25 January 2014, the protests had been fueled by the perception of government corruption, abuse of power. Transparency International named President Yanukovych as the top example of corruption in the world, Police and protesters fired live and rubber ammunition across multiple locations in Kiev. Riot police advanced towards Maiden and clashed with protesters but did not fully occupy it, fighting continued the following days which saw the vast majority of casualties. In connection with the events of February 18–20, Yanukovych was forced to make concessions to the opposition to end the bloodshed in Kiev, the Agreement on settlement of political crisis in Ukraine was signed by Vitaly Klitschko, Arseny Yatsenyuk, Oleh Tyahnybok. Vladimir Lukin, representing Russia, refused to sign the agreement, in late February 2014, Yanukovych and many other high government officials fled the country. Protesters gained control of the administration and Yanukovychs private estate. Subsequently, the parliament removed Yanukovych from office, replaced the government with a pro-European one, events in Kiev were soon followed by the Crimean crisis and pro-Russian unrest in Eastern Ukraine. On 24 November 2013, clashes between protesters and police began, Police used tear gas and batons. Protesters also used gas and some fire crackers. After a few days of demonstrations an increasing number of university students joined the protests, the Euromaidan has been characterised as an event of major political symbolism for the European Union itself, particularly as the largest ever pro-European rally in history. The protests continued despite heavy presence, regularly sub-freezing temperatures. In the preceding weeks, protest attendance had fluctuated from 50,000 to 200,000 during organised rallies, violent riots took place 1 December and 19 January through 25 January in response to police brutality and government repression. Starting 23 January, several Western Ukrainian Oblast Governor buildings and regional councils were occupied in a revolt by Euromaidan activists. According to journalist Lecia Bushak writing in the 18 February 2014 issue of Newsweek magazine, Yanukovych then fled to Ukraines second largest city of Kharkiv, refusing to recognise the parliaments decisions. The parliament assigned early elections for May 2014, the term Euromaidan was initially used as a hashtag on Twitter. A Twitter account named Euromaidan was created on the first day of the protests and it soon became popular in the international media
37.
2014 Ukrainian revolution
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After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Ukraine endured years of corruption, mismanagement, lack of economic growth, currency devaluation, and problems to secure funding from public markets. Successive Ukrainian governments in the 2000s sought a relationship with the European Union. One of the measures meant to achieve this was an agreement with the European Union. President Yanukovych announced his intention to sign the agreement, but ultimately refused to do so at the last minute and this sparked a wave of protests called the Euromaidan movement. During these protests Yanukovych signed a treaty and multibillion-dollar loan with Russia, the Ukrainian security forces cracked down on the protesters, further inflaming the situation and resulting in a series of violent clashes in the streets of Kiev. As tensions rose, Yanukovych fled to Russia and did not return, Russia refused to recognize the new interim government, calling the revolution a coup détat, and began a military intervention in Ukraine. The International Monetary Fund pledged more than $18 billion in loans contingent on Ukraines adopting those reforms, a period of relative calm in the anti-government demonstrations in Kiev ended abruptly on 18 February 2014, when protesters and police clashed. At least 82 people were killed over the few days, including 13 policemen. The confrontation turned violent, the BBC, citing correspondents, reported that each side blamed the other, the police fired guns with both rubber bullets and, later, live ammunition, while also using tear gas and flash grenades in an attempt to repel thousands of demonstrators. The protesters fought with weapons, firearms, and improvised explosives. Police officers stormed the main protest camp on Maidan Nezalezhnosti and overran parts of the square, the Trade Unions Building, which served as the Euromaidan headquarters, was burned down. Political commentators suggested that Ukraine was on the brink of a civil war, some areas, including Lviv Oblast, declared themselves politically independent of the central government. On 19 February, the authorities instituted police checkpoints, restrictions on public transportation, and school closures in Kiev, on 20 February, Internal Affairs Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko announced that he had signed a decree authorising the use of live ammunition against protesters. Central Kiev saw the worst violence yet, and the toll in 48 hours of clashes rose to at least 77. Parliament also suspended Zakharchenko from his duties, on 21 February, President Yanukovych signed a compromise deal with opposition leaders. It promised constitutional changes to certain powers to Parliament and called for early elections to be held by December. On 21 February, an impeachment bill was introduced in Parliament, on the same day, Yanukovych left for Kharkiv to attend a summit of southeastern regions, according to media reports. On 22 February, the protesters were reported to be in control of Kiev, the parliament, or Verkhovna Rada, voted 328–0 in favour of impeaching Yanukovych and scheduled new presidential elections for 25 May
38.
Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation
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The Ukrainian territory of Crimea was annexed by the Russian Federation on 18 March 2014. On 23 February 2014, pro-Russian demonstrations were held in the Crimean city of Sevastopol and it led to the other members of the then G8 suspending Russia from the group, then introducing the first round of sanctions against the country. The resolution calls upon all States and international organizations not to recognize or to imply the recognition of Russias annexation, the Russian Federation opposes the annexation label, with Putin defending the referendum as complying with the principle of self-determination of peoples. In July 2015, Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev said that Crimea had been integrated into Russia. Crimea became part of the Russian Empire in 1783, when the Crimean Khanate was annexed, initially it was incorporated into the Empire as Taurida Oblast but in 1795 it was merged into Novorossiysk Governorate and then, in 1802, transferred to the Taurida Governorate. A series of short-lived governments were established during first stages of the Russian Civil War, in October 1921, the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Russian SFSR was instituted. In 1954, the Crimean Oblast was transferred from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. In 1989, under perestroika, the Supreme Soviet declared that the deportation of the Crimean Tatars under Stalin had been illegal, in 1990, the Soviet of the Crimean Oblast proposed the restoration of the Crimean ASSR. The oblast conducted a referendum in 1991, which asked whether Crimea should be elevated into a signatory of the New Union Treaty, by that time, though, the dissolution of the Soviet Union was well underway. The Crimean ASSR was restored for less than a year as part of Soviet Ukraine before Ukrainian independence, newly independent Ukraine maintained Crimeas autonomous status, while the Supreme Council of Crimea affirmed the peninsulas sovereignty as a part of Ukraine. The autonomous status of Crimea was limited by Ukrainian authorities in 1995, on 24 August 2009, anti-Ukrainian demonstrations were held in Crimea by ethnic Russian residents. Sergei Tsekov said then that he hoped that Russia would treat Crimea the same way as it had treated South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Yanukovych won the 2010 presidential election with strong support from voters in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and southern and eastern Ukraine. The Crimean autonomous government strongly supported Yanukovych and condemned the protests, on 4 February 2014, the Presidium of the Supreme Council considered holding a referendum on the peninsulas status, and asked the Russian government to guarantee the vote. The Security Service of Ukraine responded by opening a case to investigate the possible subversion of Ukraines territorial integrity. The Euromaidan protests came to a head in late February 2014, arseniy Yatsenyuk was appointed by the Rada to serve as the head of a caretaker government until new presidential and parliament elections could be held. This new government was recognised internationally, though the Russian government said that these events had been a coup détat, in January 2014 the Sevastopol city council had already called for formation of peoples militia units to ensure firm defence of the city from extremism. Crimean parliament members called for a meeting on 21 February. Crimean Tatar Mejlis chairman Mustafa Dzhemilev said that he suspected that the meeting was arranged to call for Russian military intervention in Crimea
39.
2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine
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During the first stage of the unrest, Crimea was invaded and annexed by the Russian Federation after a Russian military intervention, and an internationally criticized Crimean referendum. Protests in Donetsk and Luhansk regions escalated into an armed pro-Russian separatist insurgency, from late 2014, cities outside of the Donbass combat zone, such as Kharkiv, Odessa, Kiev and Mariupol, were struck by bombings that targeted pro-Ukrainian unity organizations. Ukraine became gripped by unrest when President Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign an agreement with the European Union on 21 November 2013. An organized political movement known as Euromaidan demanded closer ties with the European Union, and this movement was ultimately successful, culminating in the February 2014 revolution, which removed Yanukovych and his government. Various demonstrations were held in Crimea in favour of leaving Ukraine and accession to the Russian Federation, on 1 March, regional state administration buildings in various eastern Ukrainian oblasts were briefly occupied by pro-Russian activists. By 11 March, all occupations had ended, after units of the local police, in Donetsk, protests escalated into violence on multiple occasions, including on 13 March, when a pro-Ukrainian protester was stabbed to death. In Kharkiv, Patriots of Ukraine militants killed a protester and a passer-by on the night of 15 March. The attendees of the protests included Russian citizens from across the border who came to support the efforts of activists in Ukraine. Donetsk oblast governor Serhiy Taruta said that rallies in Donetsk contained ex-convicts, Ukraines police and border guards had denied more than 8,200 Russians entry into Ukraine between 4 and 25 March. On 27 March, National Security and Defence Council Secretary Andriy Parubiy said that between 500 and 700 Russians were being denied entry daily, a poll conducted by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology from 8–18 February 2014 assessed support for union with Russia throughout Ukraine. It found that, overall, 12% of those polled favoured union with Russia,68. 0% of those from the four regions surveyed agreed that Ukraine should remain independent, with friendly relations maintained between Russia and Ukraine. Only 5% of respondents in eastern Ukraine felt that Russian-speakers were definitely under pressure or threat, 43% of ethnic Russians supported the decision of the Russian Federation to send its military to protect Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine. 59% of those polled in eastern Ukraine would like to join the Russian-led customs union, among all the Ukrainians polled overall, 34% favour joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, while 44% are against joining it. In eastern Ukraine and southern Ukraine, only 14% and 11% of the respondents respectively favour joining NATO, while 67% in eastern Ukraine, 72% of people polled in eastern Ukraine thought that the country was going in the wrong direction, compared with only 36% in the western Ukraine. A poll conducted by the Institute of Social Research and Policy Analysis analysed the identities of Donetsk inhabitants, while support for separatism was low, just over a third of polled Donetsk inhabitants identified themselves as citizens of Ukraine. More preferred Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine or residents of Donbass, the same poll determined that 66% of Donetsk residents that were polled supported remaining in a unified Ukraine, while 18. 2% supported joining Russia, and 4. 7% supported independence. A second poll conducted from 26–29 March showed that 77% of residents condemned the takeover of administrative buildings, furthermore,40. 8% of Donetsk citizens supported rallies for Ukraines unity, while 26. 5% supported pro-Russian rallies. In another research poll conducted 8–16 April by KIIS, a vast majority disapproved of the seizure of buildings by protesters
