I am a Canadian citizen but I was born in Russia and raised in Belarus. Most of my adult life I worked on passenger trains travelling between Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. We were one family, spoke one language and shared the same cultural values and traditions; all descending from our Slavic heritage.
I believe that what has happened in Kiev starting with the Maidan may have been precipitated by actions of the U.S., both the monetary and military aid. It is said that there were many paid agitators contributing to the mayhem.
It hurts me deeply to see the devastation in the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine. The lives of all the people have been shattered. Homes have been destroyed, children and elderly people maimed and slaughtered. Canada and the U.S. are directly and indirectly aiding the Ukrainian armies in this devastation.
The rift between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples has flowed across the ocean and has adversely affected the relations between Canadians of Russian and Ukrainian descent in our larger cities. I am certain that this is also true in the American cities.
If indeed the people of Western Ukraine want to be part of the European Union and those of Eastern Ukraine want to stay within the Russian Federation then why not have a split of the country as did Czechoslavakia, without bloodshed, back in 1993. Otherwise this conflict will only escalate to the point where we have a confrontation between Russia and the West. Then what? We’d be on the brink of a nuclear holocaust.
Tatiana Antonow
Osoyoos
