So the BBC ran This.
Can people whose Russian is better than mine explain to me why a group of Ukrainian seamen are marching around with a Soviet battle flag? It's not even a Soviet naval flag, which is red on white and looks like this (for the record: I do not need to have it explained to me why that Crimean Russian is holding up a Soviet naval flag during an anti-Kiev demonstration, that makes perfect sense to me). They are holding up a nationalist flag of Ukraine and a Soviet Union battle flag. What the actual fuck?
-Username17
Russian Question
Moderator: Moderators
The Russian line is that the Ukrainians are fascists, and the trenches being dug by Russian troops are in the same places as the ones dug by Soviet troops to keep out the Nazis. That symbolism is very important, in Ukraine and Russia, and my guess is that a Soviet battle flag is a very calculated rebuke of the Russian attempt to appropriate the entire "Great Patriotic War" for their own purposes.
Basically, "our ancestors fought and died here fighting Nazis just like yours did. Don't pretend we're the second coming of the Third Reich."
Basically, "our ancestors fought and died here fighting Nazis just like yours did. Don't pretend we're the second coming of the Third Reich."
They are air base guards, not seamen, and the place is Belbek Airbase. I couldn't read what the Soviet flag says on the front (it says "For the Motherland" on the back), but it may as well be that particular airbase's actual ceremonial artifact flag. Artifact military banners are srs bsns. In Russia, where the chicken by itself is unlikely to rub people the wrong way, Soviet-style banners are slated to be "honorably retired" by 2015, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory (replaced by chickens without upsetting too many military people, or so Putin hopes).
The first song they sing while marching is Aviamarch, the march of the Soviet air forces. The second song is the Ukrainian anthem, with a bizarrely mangled melody. (Note: this youtube vid appeals to patriots to support Ukraine in a browser game.)
The Ukrainians march to the base and ask the Russians to let them in. The Russians shout back, "Stop, stop, or we're going to shoot, we'll shoot in the legs." They stop.
A Ukrainian shouts, "America backs us!" (what the actual fuck, is he on coke?) He is shouted down by the leader and other Ukrainians.
Ukrainian commander: "[turns back] Quiet, quiet. [to Russians] A Soviet flag, bros, a Soviet flag! Will you shoot anyway?"
Same Ukrainian: "It's our war banner! [unclear]!" (1:40 to 1:55 here)
Russians: "Stop right there! The commander is on the way, we can talk right here, no question, stop. Stop the crowd." "Stop!"
Ukrainian commander: "To please a single [unspecified] politician, we're about to bang heads, two brotherly peoples."
Russians: "You're provoking on purpose."
Ukrainian: "What provocation, we're unarmed. We're going to our workplace, unarmed. Can't you think for yourselves? You're also citizens, you have families. We didn't come to your Anapa or Sochi with machineguns, we're going to work, bros."
Nazis, trenches and whatnot are not mentioned.
The first song they sing while marching is Aviamarch, the march of the Soviet air forces. The second song is the Ukrainian anthem, with a bizarrely mangled melody. (Note: this youtube vid appeals to patriots to support Ukraine in a browser game.)
The Ukrainians march to the base and ask the Russians to let them in. The Russians shout back, "Stop, stop, or we're going to shoot, we'll shoot in the legs." They stop.
A Ukrainian shouts, "America backs us!" (what the actual fuck, is he on coke?) He is shouted down by the leader and other Ukrainians.
Ukrainian commander: "[turns back] Quiet, quiet. [to Russians] A Soviet flag, bros, a Soviet flag! Will you shoot anyway?"
Same Ukrainian: "It's our war banner! [unclear]!" (1:40 to 1:55 here)
Russians: "Stop right there! The commander is on the way, we can talk right here, no question, stop. Stop the crowd." "Stop!"
Ukrainian commander: "To please a single [unspecified] politician, we're about to bang heads, two brotherly peoples."
Russians: "You're provoking on purpose."
Ukrainian: "What provocation, we're unarmed. We're going to our workplace, unarmed. Can't you think for yourselves? You're also citizens, you have families. We didn't come to your Anapa or Sochi with machineguns, we're going to work, bros."
Nazis, trenches and whatnot are not mentioned.