On Friday, Zelensky instructed authorities to “thoroughly study” the proposal to officially rename Russia to ‘Moscovia.’ He was reacting to an online petition, which argued that the name ‘Russia’ provided grounds for “further encroachment” on the history of Kievan Rus, a medieval state from which both Russia and Ukraine trace their origin. Many Ukrainian nationalists claim that their homeland is the only true heir of Rus.
The name ‘Moscovia’ dates to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and was historically used by some authors to describe the Russian state.
On Saturday, Medvedev, who served as Russian president between 2008 and 2012, and currently serves as deputy chairman of the Security Council, fired back in a post on his Telegram channel. “Our response?… Only the Schweinisch Bandera-Reich,” he wrote. The word “schweinisch” means “piggish” in German.
Medvedev was apparently referencing the idolization by some Ukrainian politicians of Stepan Bandera, a World War II-era leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). Bandera collaborated with Adolf Hitler’s government during the early stages of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. He was later arrested and imprisoned by the Germans over disagreements about the future of Ukraine. After the war, Bandera fled to West Germany, where in 1959 he was assassinated by a KGB agent.
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army – the OUN’s military wing founded in 1943 – positioned itself as a guerilla force fighting both Soviet and German troops. Its agents committed multiple atrocities against Polish, Jewish and Russian civilians.
Bandera and his followers are honored as heroes in modern Ukraine, with streets and buildings named after them. Nationalists hold annual torchlit processions on Bandera’s birthday in Kiev and other cities.
Idea of renaming Russia to Muscovy proves attempts to create ‘anti-Russia’ — diplomat
The idea of renaming Russia into Muscovy in the Ukrainian language once again proves attempts to create "anti-Russia" from Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday.
Earlier it was reported that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky tasked Prime Minister Denis Shmygal with "carefully studying" the possibility of renaming Russia to Muscovy in the Ukrainian language.
"The bunker (President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky - TASS) proves that we are right every day. Here is another evidence of an attempt to create an "anti-Russia" from Ukraine," she wrote on her Telegram channel on Saturday, commenting on the instructions of the Ukrainian President.
The instructions came as a response to a petition that gathered 25,000 signatures on Zelensky’s website, and therefore was submitted for consideration to the president of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian President asked Shmygal to study whether the move is possible in the historic and cultural context, and what consequences it may entail in terms of the international law.
The petition also suggests replacing the term ‘Russian Federation’ with the ‘Moscow Federation,’ and the demonym ‘Russian’ with ‘Muscovite.’
A proposal to rename Russia to Muscovy was voiced by the Kiev city council in January 2022, following similar initiatives put forward by regional authorities from the Ukrainian regions of Lvov and Rovno in December 2021.
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