Ukraine Turns its Back on Russian Culture

Ukraine is undertaking a number of changes to get rid of elements of Russian culture in the country, according to The Times.

The Snow Queen, a ballet created from the Hans Christian Anderson fairytale in Ukraine five years ago contained many works composed by Russians, but the work has been altered hugely, getting rid of the compositions of Tchaikovksy and Prokofiev. The ballet now features music from opera, foreign ballet and theatre by composers such as Pietro Mascagni and Edvard Grieg.

"It was decided that Tchaikovsky is a symbol of Russian culture and Russian aggression so we cannot support it," Serhii Skuz, the director of the Ukrainian National Ballet, said.

"We don't miss Tchaikovsky," Anastasia Shevchenko, the ballerina dancing the part of the Snow Queen, insists. "Russia did this to Ukrainian culture and now the tables have turned. This is a chance for us to create something Ukrainian and new."

President Putin's full-scale invasion has provoked a new backlash against all things Russian. That, and a new and stronger sense of Ukrainian identity stoked by the war, are exactly the reverse of what the Kremlin intended during the imperial and the Soviet eras, as well as with the effort to reabsorb Ukraine into Russia.

The article reports on a new and stronger sense of Ukrainian identity including the pulping of books by Russian writers such as Tolstoy's War and Peace. Almost 30 per cent of Ukrainians speak Russian as their first language, but more are turning their backs on their native tongue and choosing to speak only Ukrainian.

Last month, Odesa's towering statue of Catherine the Great, who founded the imperial city, was taken down, boxed up and put in a museum basement.

Read the full article here.

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