Ukrainian Expat
Hello, dear visitor! Glad you are here. My name is Anna. It is August 2021, and today I feel ready for launching my blog about Ukraine. You can find some information about me below. Also in this introductory part I try to highlight my main motives why I decided to create this blog.
The Blogger
I am a Russian-speaking Expat from Ukraine, now living in Serbia. A civilian, but not an outsider. An educated adult, who is interested in the happenings and fate of Ukraine, although left the motherland some years ago. I am a history lover, and eagerly follow world politics. Additionally, civilian and human rights, national minorities’ struggles, the necessity for predominance of democratic values, the pollution of natural waters and even gender issues also constantly keep my mind occupied. Reflections of all these topics can be found in the news from and about Ukraine day by day and I have my own reflections on them, too.
Ukraine 30
And what made me start my blog just now? I can recall never-ending day-dreaming of parents, relatives and everyone else in the first half of the 1990s when everything seemed to be possible in Ukraine. And then came the disappointment, when we all could clearly see the rise of the oligarchs, how they infiltrated into politics and how the nationwide corruption became the main feature of our country. Sometimes new hopes appeared. Time by time we were reassured in our belief that we can become NATO and EU members. At the same time we could observe brutal poverty all around Ukraine. The oligarchs, hand-in-hand with the political elite — completely disregarding the vital national interests — sold out the country’s resources, leaving nothing for the State and for the People. As one could easily forebode, the next stage was disregarding people’s will and opinion by the political elite, the law enforcement was strengthened and trampling on human rights became normal. After the trauma of 2014, persecution of ethnic Russians became a widespread social phenomenon, generated from a deep paranoia. It was followed by suppression of all national minorities, which culminated in the loss of their already acquired rights. The well-being of citizens, the improvement of the quality of life is cast away for decades.
After 2014, the revision of the territorial losses became the one and only element of the political speeches. It soon became clear that what the Ukrainian government reclaims is not the people, not the inhabitants of the Crimea, they only need the territory itself, they do not care about the people of different ethnicities living there. And we had the same sad experience in Eastern Ukraine. Human losses do not matter. What matters is the territorial loss, wrapped in the fine but empty expression of the vision of ’reintegration’.
The Head of State is a movie star. The head of the secret service is a tv show producer. Some idiots make brandy from Chernobyl apple for export. Common sense, and democratic and moral values seem to be lost, so called patriotic education and war rhetoric are above all. There is a constant urge of creation of ’national’ things: holidays, church, etc. The US threatens the Head of State with Igor Kolomoysky, Victor Medvedchuk, Dmitro Firtash. Television channels and social media platforms are shut down. Meanwhile, Belarus is falling apart. The Kremlin sits out. The EU is impotent; Germany and France play the game with Russia according to their own rules and interests. Pandemic. And more and more Ukrainian citizen decides to seek a happier life somewhere else on the Globe.
30 years of Ukraine’s independence. For what this 30 years was enough? What did Ukraine achieve? Is there any serious achievement at all? What lessons are learned? What is happening to our country?
A blog for Ukrain’s Expats
Ukrainian Expats represent a multi-million community all around the world. These are people who left Ukraine for some compelling reason. Besides so called historical Expat communities we can observe even larger communities in different countries — these are Ukrainian citizens who just want a better salary, and a better life. This blog is dedicated for both categories.
I would like to share with you my views and I am curious what you think, and what those relatives and friends think who stayed at home: in what direction Ukraine is heading?
I believe each Expat has his or her own opinion, as I have my own too. Frankly, we are supposedly not opinion-forming persons if we communicate separately. But together we have our own loud voice which already can be heard by certain decision-making circles. Each Ukrainian Expat already expressed his or her opinion when he or she left the homeland. And every Expat can tell his or her story and opinion about Ukraine in his or her newly chosen country. I believe with this initiative we can build bridges between Expats and policymakers, both in Ukraine and our new countries as well, and can contribute to better understanding of Ukraine abroad.
To achieve this, in the articles of the blog I will provide analysis of certain events and also will publish related digest of news. Comments are welcome, shares are appreciated. Looking forward to have vivid discussions. Speak out your opinion. Be open-minded to hear my voice and make yours heard, without fear and anger. Keep in mind: these are all voices of Ukrainian Expats.
This is Ukrainian Expat.
Regarding the language
We live in different countries, speak different languages, depending on our situation, on where we come from, and on our age as well. We also have to take into account the linguistic diversity of the concerned public (the non-Expat visitors). English can be an origo for all of us. I will summarize some opinions of mine, some articles in Ukrainian and also in Russian. English comments are mostly welcome, but do not hesitate if you can tell your opinion the best in Ukrainian or in Russian.
One last remark
The blog does not take collective positions. The articles represent only my views.
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