Dim and funny: who fed whom in the empire (29.06.2022)
A street debate by Vitaliy Dribnytsia with a pro-Russian interlocutor (ru-orig) on the economic side of empire. The opponent repeats the claim that “Russia fed the peripheries / Ukraine”; the historian inverts it: in the USSR resources flowed from Ukraine to the centre — Moscow was heated by Ukrainian (Dashava) gas as far back as the 1940s–50s, long before Siberian gas. Also a breakdown of the “brotherly peoples” and “the Russian Empire had no colonies” myths (continental colonies). A source for the article on the “who fed whom” myth.
Key moments
- 05:30 "Brotherly peoples" — where the phrase comes from (living together in one empire ≠ brotherhood)
- 11:30 "The Russian Empire had no colonies" — a breakdown: continental colonies exist too
- 13:30 Comparative method: Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans also "maintained" their peripheries — why only Russia is cast as the breadwinner
- 16:20 Gas: Moscow was fed by Ukrainian (Dashava) gas back in the 1940s–50s; Siberian gas only appeared in the 1970s
- 17:40 "Who fed whom": the burden of proof lies on whoever claims Russia fed Ukraine