Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Rods2]

In Ukraine car insurance not compulsory except for visitors and even then they just need cover for a maximum of £5000 of third party damage.

Having insurance and ever getting any sort of payment is also the difference between expectation and reality.

Remember many in the Ukraine and Russia are Cossacks and they are not known for being fearful. My wife who is half Cossack is quite happy to walk along the upstairs window sills cleaning the outside of the windows and climbing to the top of apple trees to pick the apples. Her Moscow based cousin is 100% Cossack and 

We have cossacks here.. migrated long time ago..

Not surprised Cem as, and you probably know this, Joseph Stalin had a big downer on the Cossacks after a large number of them had joined the Nazis during their invasion of Russia.  Stalin organised a great purge, and even a large number who had sought refuge from the British authorities were betrayed and ended up being massacred by the Soviets.  I understand since the USSR went, the Cossacks have been returning to Russia.

Cossacks actually originate mainly from Ukraine, very much centred around the Dnieper river (My wife's family are about 80 miles from the river in the Cherkasy region). Cossacks ended up in Russia where they were recruited by them to help fight wars during the 19th century. During Soviet times Cossacks were in their military through conscription and were very badly treated during WWII. Many Cossacks that tried to resist Stalin, died in the Holodomor of 1932-33 of starvation or execution, were forced into Siberian labour camps or if they were lucky managed to escape from the region with some going to Russia. There were during and after Stalin's death other voluntary and forced movement of Cossacks into other regions of the Russian empire and with many of them staying in Russia after military service (The Moscow based side of my wife's family are a 'military' family).

Although Ukrainians welcomed the Germans when they invaded and there was some recruitment into their military, this very quickly changed when they were treated even worse than they were by the Soviets. Hitler classed them as sub-human and were only suitable for slave labour, his plan was to kill 90% and have 10% as slaves working the land. All Jews were quickly rounded up and slaughtered. Many Ukrainian Cossacks moved into the forests and became anti-Nazi partisan forces. Once these forces became more effective the Nazis introduced the 1 to 100 rule, so 100 civilians were killed for every German soldier. Stalin hated and felt threatened by the nationalistic nature of the Ukrainian Cossacks hence the 1932-33 Holodomor which staved to death, forced into Siberian labour camps or were executed an estimated 3 to 7.5 million Ukrainian people. During WWII the Cossacks were widely recruited into the Soviet Army and again on Stalin's orders given the worst jobs to do, like marching across mine fields to clear a path for other troops. So Ukrainian forces had a much higher rate of casualties than forces from other regions (including my wife's grandfather who was killed in 1944). Ukrainian civilian and military causalities in WWII accounted for 12 million of the 20 million Soviet deaths. Any Ukrainian that was in a Nazi army unit or a slave labourer in Germany was killed on Stalin's orders on their return.

All in all 20 million Ukrainians lost their lives through Stalin and the Nazis in the 20th century. As one American general said at the end of WWII: "Of all the forces and civilians involved in WWII, the Ukrainian's picked up by far the biggest tab".

Today Ukraine is split very much on the Dnieper River, with those to the west mainly speaking Ukrainian and wanting to be part of Western Europe and those to the east speaking mainly Russian and wanted to have closer ties with Russia. After the last Presidental and Rada elections, Eastern Ukraine is currently the dominant political force.

I know you like your history Lizzie, so here is a little more background information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cossacks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_collaborationism_with_the_Axis_powers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ukraine

[Webby the Bear]

was that a jellyfish that guy was eating on the beach??? 

Washed down with cider and vodka 

LOL!!!

On a serious note there's some shocking alcoholism death stats in Russia.... 

[PhilRich]

My God, that is Sobering stuff to go to bed on! 

[cem_devecioglu]

In Ukraine car insurance not compulsory except for visitors and even then they just need cover for a maximum of £5000 of third party damage.

Having insurance and ever getting any sort of payment is also the difference between expectation and reality.

Remember many in the Ukraine and Russia are Cossacks and they are not known for being fearful. My wife who is half Cossack is quite happy to walk along the upstairs window sills cleaning the outside of the windows and climbing to the top of apple trees to pick the apples. Her Moscow based cousin is 100% Cossack and 

We have cossacks here.. migrated long time ago..

Not surprised Cem as, and you probably know this, Joseph Stalin had a big downer on the Cossacks after a large number of them had joined the Nazis during their invasion of Russia.  Stalin organised a great purge, and even a large number who had sought refuge from the British authorities were betrayed and ended up being massacred by the Soviets.  I understand since the USSR went, the Cossacks have been returning to Russia.

Cossacks were always a naughty crowd for Russia.. their migration to here repeated several times and started before Stalin..

[Lizzie_Zoom]

In Ukraine car insurance not compulsory except for visitors and even then they just need cover for a maximum of £5000 of third party damage.

Having insurance and ever getting any sort of payment is also the difference between expectation and reality.

Remember many in the Ukraine and Russia are Cossacks and they are not known for being fearful. My wife who is half Cossack is quite happy to walk along the upstairs window sills cleaning the outside of the windows and climbing to the top of apple trees to pick the apples. Her Moscow based cousin is 100% Cossack and 

We have cossacks here.. migrated long time ago..

Not surprised Cem as, and you probably know this, Joseph Stalin had a big downer on the Cossacks after a large number of them had joined the Nazis during their invasion of Russia.  Stalin organised a great purge, and even a large number who had sought refuge from the British authorities were betrayed and ended up being massacred by the Soviets.  I understand since the USSR went, the Cossacks have been returning to Russia.

Cossacks actually originate mainly from Ukraine, very much centred around the Dnieper river (My wife's family are about 80 miles from the river in the Cherkasy region). Cossacks ended up in Russia where they were recruited by them to help fight wars during the 19th century. During Soviet times Cossacks were in their military through conscription and were very badly treated during WWII. Many Cossacks that tried to resist Stalin, died in the Holodomor of 1932-33 of starvation or execution, were forced into Siberian labour camps or if they were lucky managed to escape from the region with some going to Russia. There were during and after Stalin's death other voluntary and forced movement of Cossacks into other regions of the Russian empire and with many of them staying in Russia after military service (The Moscow based side of my wife's family are a 'military' family).

Although Ukrainians welcomed the Germans when they invaded and there was some recruitment into their military, this very quickly changed when they were treated even worse than they were by the Soviets. Hitler classed them as sub-human and were only suitable for slave labour, his plan was to kill 90% and have 10% as slaves working the land. All Jews were quickly rounded up and slaughtered. Many Ukrainian Cossacks moved into the forests and became anti-Nazi partisan forces. Once these forces became more effective the Nazis introduced the 1 to 100 rule, so 100 civilians were killed for every German soldier. Stalin hated and felt threatened by the nationalistic nature of the Ukrainian Cossacks hence the 1932-33 Holodomor which staved to death, forced into Siberian labour camps or were executed an estimated 3 to 7.5 million Ukrainian people. During WWII the Cossacks were widely recruited into the Soviet Army and again on Stalin's orders given the worst jobs to do, like marching across mine fields to clear a path for other troops. So Ukrainian forces had a much higher rate of casualties than forces from other regions (including my wife's grandfather who was killed in 1944). Ukrainian civilian and military causalities in WWII accounted for 12 million of the 20 million Soviet deaths. Any Ukrainian that was in a Nazi army unit or a slave labourer in Germany was killed on Stalin's orders on their return.

All in all 20 million Ukrainians lost their lives through Stalin and the Nazis in the 20th century. As one American general said at the end of WWII: "Of all the forces and civilians involved in WWII, the Ukrainian's picked up by far the biggest tab".

Today Ukraine is split very much on the Dnieper River, with those to the west mainly speaking Ukrainian and wanting to be part of Western Europe and those to the east speaking mainly Russian and wanted to have closer ties with Russia. After the last Presidental and Rada elections, Eastern Ukraine is currently the dominant political force.

I know you like your history Lizzie, so here is a little more background information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cossacks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_collaborationism_with_the_Axis_powers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ukraine

Thanks for all that Rod2!!   Great stuff.

Just to add:
On the 15th April 1942 Hitler sanctioned the creation of Cossack units, under the command Lt-General Helmuth von Pannwitz, which later became the 15th Cossack cavalry corp. Major Cossack commanders sided with the Germans as they were the only force fighting the Bolsheviks. Von Pannwitz eventually was sent to Yugoslavia to fight Tito and the Partisans, surrendering to the British on 19th May 1945.

In March 1944 several thousands Cossacks were part of a force working with the Germans who fought their way through Poland and Southern Germany to the foothills of the Italian Alps.

There is still much argument about how and why the British handed to Stalin millions of Cossack POW's and other Soviet citizens under pressure from the Soviets, as much has been denied, with not much clarified.  The end result though, as you state, is that millions were put to death by the Soviet dictator.