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Comment by doombolt | Hacker News Reader

1. I have a family and I enjoy living in a place where Russian is spoken primarily and Russian culture is dominant.

2. Maybe I was like that before 2008 or so. Didn't make a difference either way.

You call yourself a nationalist -- is patriotism or love of country one of your reasons for staying?

Definitely. I am more concerned with Russian people and our culture, though, than with loyality to a country as a regime plus set of borders.

If there was other Russian state, like Taiwan is for China, I think I'd jump ship and go for it. There isn't.

Upd: HN throttles me so have to answer here:

Even before 2014, Ukraine put their bet on propelling Ukrainian language and culture. Which from my perspective put them in the same ballpark as Czechia or Croatia. Surely, most people in Ukraine still speak Russian but their culture is 2nd class citizen.

Belarus is a small and boring dictatorship. They're either going the way of Ukraine or, as rumors go, get annexed by Russia. Back to square one. But otherwise it could be an option.

As for placing interests of Russia above my own: aren't we all do it sometimes in any country? Actually this is a trick question since Russians as a nation way overspent on loyalty to regimes in XX century.

> If there was other Russian state, like Taiwan is for China, I think I'd jump ship and go for it. There isn't.

Are Belarus and Ukraine too distinct from Russia to you? I realize that historically, these were part of Ruthenia and then Lithuania (and Poland-Lithuania), but ethnographically, they are still part of the Rus cultural spectrum like Novgorod and Muscovy were and unlike, say, Kazakhstan or Georgia.

What’s the point of going from Russia to Belarus when it’s the same crony dictatorship out there?

Ukraine is a questionable choice since they seem to want to get away from any commonality with Russians as soon as possible, including the language.

Thanks for your answers! I so rarely encounter educated people in the West who will admit to patriotism. Does your love of country oblige you to put Russia's interests above your own in any way?

"patriot" and "nationalist" are very different terms in russian language.

There is ABSOLUTELY NO difference between Russian and Ukrainian culture. They are both leftovers from the USSR that are EXACTLY the same.

You saying otherwise is making me question your motivations.

That's a rather uncivil comment. You're replying to a commenter who's a self-proclaimed Russian patriot and nationalist. There's no need to go shouting about motiviations when they've already been laid on the table.

I don't believe it's a rude comment at all, given that:

1. Russia and Ukraine were the same country until 1991. The culture was exactly the same until that time. Until less than half a decade ago, Ukraine was led by a Russian puppet. Believing the culture is "different" is blatantly ignorant or deceitful, and it's unlikely the poster is the former.

2. Russia is stressing the difference between itself in Ukraine to rouse support for its take over of Crimea.

As he mentioned above, it matters if the country supports or does not support Russian language (which makes sense to me too).

I moved from Russia in 2012, and would gladly move to Ukraine, if not for that movement away from the Russian language.

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