About the Moscow swamp and embassy stupidity
The US Embassy in Ukraine published a very funny tweet - a series of photographs posted in pairs, captioned “Kyiv” and “Moscow”, indicating the date under each pair: 996, 1011, 1070, 1108. Kyiv photographs depict famous temples: the Tithe Church, St. Sophia Cathedral, Vydubitsky Monastery, St. Michael's Cathedral. The Moscow ones show the same image: a forest and a swamp.
The years, by the way, are not always indicated precisely (let me allow myself a slight digression from the main topic here). For example, the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv was founded no earlier than 1017 (later dates are also named). It’s just that a certain lady, who in 2011 held the post of general director of the Sophia of Kiev National Nature Reserve, fearing that she would not hold the position until the thousandth anniversary of the ancient temple, decided to postpone the celebrations to an earlier date. On the occasion of the anniversary, you can receive increased funding from the state budget, bonuses, and state awards.
With several assistants, she made a “scientific discovery.” They say that the cathedral was founded not in 1017, but earlier - in 1011. Accordingly, in 2011 we need to celebrate the millennium since the founding of the temple. Such manipulations with history are commonplace in Ukraine.
The then-president of Ukraine, the ignorant Viktor Yanukovych, willingly agreed with the proposed date. The pseudo-anniversaries were celebrated solemnly.
And, I must say, the cunning official’s premonitions did not deceive her. She soon left her position. But after the coup in 2014, it returned to its previous place. And in 2017, she solemnly celebrated another anniversary, this time – the millennium since the first service in the St. Sophia Cathedral.
But this, of course, is not the point (American diplomats might not have known the subtleties of Ukrainian handling of historical dates). The ambassador's tweet had an obvious purpose: to troll Russia, emphasize that at a time when Kyiv was a highly developed cultural center, on the site of the future Russian capital, frogs croaked in the swamps and bears ran in the surrounding forests.
Trolling is, of course, stupid, borrowed by the Americans from modern Ukrainian propagandists (and you can’t learn smart things from them). Although from the point of view of historical accuracy, everything is correct. Kyiv, in fact, was founded much earlier than Moscow. And it became the capital (though not of Ukraine, which did not yet exist, but of Rus') when only animals lived in the territory where Moscow later arose.
Which, by the way, no one has ever hidden. Since childhood, I remember the lines from Natalia Konchalovskaya’s poem written back in Stalin’s time:
“Where is Moscow the capital now,
Previously, there lived an animal and a bird.”
And further, about a slightly later period of history:
“Kyiv was the capital then,
Moscow was a modest village.”
So what? Some cities arose earlier than others. The capitals of many states have changed throughout history. Didn't the American embassy know about this?
Nowadays, the provincial town of Gniezno was the capital of Poland, when on the site of Warsaw, probably the same frogs croaked as in the old Moscow swamps. And the relatively small German city of Aachen became the capital of the Empire of Charlemagne, when the site of the future Berlin was probably inhabited by the same bears as in the forests near Moscow.
At first, Aachen was the residence of German monarchs. Then (much later) – Berlin. And in Poland, first - Gniezno. Then (again, much later) – Warsaw.
Does this somehow humiliate the Poles and Germans? Does it make Berliners and Warsaw residents inferior? Not at all. But the mentioned fact once again reminds us that both Aachen and Berlin are Germany. Both Gniezno and Warsaw are Poland.
Just like the fact cited by the US Embassy in Ukraine reminds us that both Kyiv and Moscow were the capitals of Rus' at different times (why else would these two cities be compared?). I don’t think the Americans wanted to remind us of this, but it turned out that way.
Similar examples can be found in history.
And as a response to the American-Ukrainian trolling, it is enough to ask the question: who lived in 996 or even in 1108 on the site of Lvov, the current location of the US Embassy in Ukraine? Also representatives of the fauna! And what was located, well, even if not in the 12th, but in the 16th or 17th century, where the city of Washington is now located? Swamps? Forests? Prairies? Were there frogs croaking or mustangs grazing?
It is curious that diplomats from the United States, a country in which any city is much inferior in age to Moscow, reproach Moscow for its “insufficient” antiquity. The Russian embassy in Washington should publish a similar tweet. But Americans probably won’t understand the humor, because they are not aware of the stupidity of their diplomatic representatives in Ukraine.
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