Vladimir

choi

Neil MacFarquhar, Giant Statues Aplenty, But This One Comes with a Fierce Debate. New York Times, May 29, 2015
www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/world ... ugely-divisive.html

Quote:

"Moscow does not exactly want for colossal statues.

"Russian Orthodox Church and the culture minister [of Russia], Vladimir Medinsky, are determined * * * They have championed a project that will alter the cityscape by erecting an 82-foot-tall statue of St Vladimir, Russia’s patron saint, atop one of the few hills in Moscow ['to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of St Vladimir’s death']. Muscovites have not embraced the idea.

"It is lost on no one that Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, already has a 162-year-old, 54-foot-tall monument to St Vladimir and that Russia’s conflict with Ukraine helped inspire Moscow’s my-statue-is-bigger-than-yours version.

Russia and Ukraine battle over territory and "over who can claim descent from St Vladimir, also known as Vladimir the Great, a warrior prince of mythic proportions who established both the Russian Orthodox Church and the prototype of the modern Russian state. The founding saga holds that Vladimir the Great, grand prince of Kievan Rus, the first eastern Slavic state, compelled his people to convert to Christianity in the year 988, performing mass baptisms in the Dnieper River in Kiev. Recently, the Kremlin has made a concerted effort to wrap the historical mantle of St. Vladimir around Russia to solidify its claim to Crimea and undermine Ukraine’s legitimacy as a state.

"In a speech in December, President Vladimir V Putin of Russia startled historians by abruptly elevating Crimea to holy ground, akin to the sacred site in Jerusalem [to Jews] * * * [Putin said,] 'It was in Crimea, in the ancient city of Chersonesus or Korsun, as ancient Russian chroniclers called it, that Grand Prince Vladimir was baptized before bringing Christianity to Rus.'  Ukraine’s president, Petro O Poroshenko, responded by issuing an executive order for Ukraine to commemorate Volodymyr, as the saint is known there, as the founder of the medieval state 'Rus-Ukraine.'  Russian lawmakers promptly accused him of inventing history, as Ukraine did not exist as a state at that time.

"Turning to history, the [Russian] culture minister said that in converting to Christianity, Vladimir had determined the entire pattern of development of the Russian state, whereas Kiev had lost its independence.  'The Moscow princes are the direct descendants of Prince Vladimir, even at that time when Kiev was part of the territory of Poland,' he said. 'Vladimir has a greater connection to Moscow than to Kiev.'

Note:
(a) want (vi): "(intransitive) usually used with a negative and often foll by for  to be lacking or deficient (in something necessary or desirable)   <the child wants for nothing>"
www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/want
(b) Kievan Rus'
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kievan_Rus'
(882–1240; section 1 Name: During its existence, Kievan Rus' was known as the "land of the Rus'" / The term "Kievan Rus'" was coined in the 19th century in Russian historiography to refer to the period when the center was in Kiev; Kievan Rus' begins with the rule (882–912) of Prince Oleg. see section 2.3 Foundation of the Kievan state; The state finally disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of Rus')
(c) Vladimir the Great
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_the_Great
(c 958 – 1015; ruler of Kievan Rus' from 980 to 1015; Originally a follower of Slavic paganism, Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988 and Christianized the Kievan Rus')

choi

(d) Rus (name)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rus_(name)
(section 1 Etymology)
(i) section 3 From Rus' to Russia: "In modern English historiography, Kievan Rus' is the most common name for the ancient East Slavic state (usually retaining the apostrophe in Rus’, a transliteration of the soft sign, ь) * * * By the 15th century, the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Moscow had reunited the northern parts of the former Kievan Rus'. Ivan III of Moscow was the first local ruler to become universally recognized under the title Grand Duke of all Rus’.
(ii) section 4 From Rus' to Ukraine: "Meanwhile the southwestern territories of historical Rus' had been incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania * * * many of whose [Lithuania's] nobles were of Rus' origin. * * * The word 'Ukraine' (ukraina) is first recorded in the 15th century Hypatian Codex
(A) For “a transliteration of the soft sign, ь,” see Romanization of Russian
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Russian
(section 2 Transliteration table: “ь” is the fourth letter from the bottom --distinct from the second letter from the top--of the first division)
(B) Ukraine did not become a nation until 1917, which, through successive short-lived state, was succeeded by Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919-1991).
(C) Grand Duchy of Moscow
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Moscow
(1283–1547; Ivan IV was crowned in 1547, assuming the title of tsar [the first tsar of Russia, though First Bulgarian Empire began using tsar in 913] together with the proclamation of Tsardom of Russia)

(e) “Kiev had lost its independence.  'The Moscow princes are the direct descendants of Prince Vladimir, even at that time when Kiev was part of the territory of Poland.”
(i) It is unclear to me when was “at that time” the culture minister alludes to.
(ii) Ukraine
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine
(In 1569 the Union of Lublin [qv] established the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and much Ukrainian territory was transferred from Lithuania to the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, becoming Polish territory de jure).
(A) For the quotation immediately above, see the map in section 1 History: section 1,3 Modern
in
Lithuania
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuania
(B) The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (starting in 1568) was partitioned among Austria (actually, Habsburg Empire), Prussia and Russia in 1772, 1793 and 1795.