Ukraine - Torn between Russia and the West

Yesterday, I discovered a Chinese language article published on the same day and which sheds a light on the missing acceptance of Russian supremacy over the peoples and cultures in the western part of the Soviet Union after its foundation in 1917. According to that article, this led to an initial fraternization of these peoples with German troops after their invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.

While the German Federal Republic, founded in 1949, finally refrained from militarism and gave way to economic partnership and a peaceful competition of political systems, Russia feels its influence on Ukraine weaken in front of Western economic and political temptations, namely an EU and NATO membership which recently appeared on the Ukrainian horizon like a mirage. This is necessarily raising fears in Moscow to lose its last grip on a former satellite and which once made up for an indispensable part of the old Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.

Here are some quotations from that remarkable Chinese evaluation of a limited popular support for German invaders in World War II. It is still a proof that unbearable suppression is steadily raising resistance against any kind of 'Big Brother' and might finally be leading to an open revolt against his system.

... , after the establishment of the Soviet Union, due to the policy of terror for many years, the Russian culture was decisive, and other cultures, such as Ukrainian culture and language, were even illegal, which also aroused their dissatisfaction with the Soviet authorities. These peoples were not particularly willing to fight for the Soviet regime, and even anti-Soviet groups in the Baltic countries had already occupied some cities before the Germans arrived. Therefore, when the Soviet-German war broke out, many fighters and commanders in the Russian, Eastern Ukrainian and Eastern Belarusian troops did not show their due combat effectiveness and easily surrendered.

... ，苏联成立后，由于多年实行恐怖政策，以俄罗斯文化为正统，其他文化，比如乌克兰文化和语言甚至被定为非法，这也激起了他们对苏联当局的不满。这些民族并不是特别愿意为苏维埃政权而战斗，甚至波罗的海沿岸各国的反苏组织在德军还没有到来之前，就已经占领了一些城市。因此，在苏德战争爆发时，俄罗斯、东乌克兰和东白俄罗斯部队中的许多战士和指挥员也没有表现出应有的战斗力，轻易就缴械投降了。

A Belarusian officer once said to the Russian Liberation Army, which aptly reflected the mentality of these Soviets at the time: "We have no choice at all to do this or that. If the Germans win, they will wipe us all out. If the Soviets win, they will wipe out our civilization and assimilate our nation... There is no third option."

However, as the German army expropriated the occupied areas, it aroused the dissatisfaction of the local people, which intensified the contradiction. The local people realized the nature of the German invaders, and some people took up arms and resisted the German army.

白俄罗斯一个士官曾对俄罗斯解放军说过的一句话，恰如其分反映了当时这些苏联人的心态，他说：“我们根本没有这样做或那样做的选择。如果德国人获胜，他们就会把我们全部消灭，如果苏联人获胜，他们就会消灭我们的文明并使我们的民族同化……没有第三种选择。”

不过随着德军对占领区横征暴敛，激起了当地人们的不满，这才激化了矛盾，当地人才认识到德军侵略者的本质，有些人才拿起武器，反抗德军。