Lviv Deputies ask Kyiv to Call the Russian Federation ‘Muscovy’

 Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 11 – On the very day Vladimir Putin lashed out at Aleksandr Sokurov for suggesting any republic within Russia that wanted to leave should be allowed to do so, something the Kremlin leader said would reduce the Russian Federation to the size of Muscovy, deputies in Lviv called on Kyiv to start calling Putin’s country precisely that.

            The Lviv council voted overwhelmingly to ask the Ukrainian government to call the country to the east of Ukraine Muscovy instead of Russia or the Russian Federation arguing that doing so would represent “the restoration of historical justice.” The deputies said that Russians would then properly be called “Muscovites” (vz.ru/news/2021/12/10/1133612.html).

            Meanwhile, in what is still called the Russian Federation, the Kremlin orchestrated expressions of outrage by various officials. Their denunciations of Sokurov were so strong that the film director himself expressed concerns that he might be arrested for his remarks (vz.ru/politics/2021/12/12/1133607.html).

            Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed those fears. Sokurov had behaved “unprofessionally” and spoke “without knowledge” about “a delicate issue. This is what the president couldn’t tolerate.” But that doesn’t mean Sokurov is about to be arrested. The president is “very well disposed” to him. “But an argument is an argument.”