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"On Point"
MINSK, 7 December (BelTA) - You need to know your friends as well as you know yourself, Doctor of Historical Sciences Nikolai Platoshkin said in the latest episode of the V Teme [On Point] project on BelTA’s YouTube channel, while discussing the importance of rapprochement among Slavic peoples and others.
“Two rounds of American-Ukrainian negotiations are pressure from the USA on Ukraine to make them agree. I am 120% sure of that. Not because they love us or hate Ukrainians, but because they want peacekeeping,” said Nikolai Platoshkin. He added that the reasons are not important, as this aligns with the national interests not only of Russia but also of Ukraine and Belarus.
The political analyst emphasized the importance of studying the history of other countries for greater mutual understanding and establishing contacts. “We must know our friends, acquaintances, and close ones as we know ourselves, because it is very important not to step on a sore spot somewhere, not to say something that might seem normal to you but not to them,” Nikolai Platoshkin said.
He also shared that he recently visited Altai Krai and made a special trip to Biysk, where the father of former Polish leader Wojciech Jaruzelski is buried. “I was very glad to see that the grave was in good condition. I recorded a video there, saying that we honor the memory of Poles who died in the struggle against German fascism. Only Poland was allowed by Stalin to participate in the Victory Parade on 24 June 1945. Not the Americans, not the British, but Poland. And how many responses I received from Poland!” said the analyst. “We need to engage in this kind of work with Ukraine and the Baltic states as well. Because there are masses of people there who are well-disposed towards us,” Nikolai Platoshkin said.
“I really hope that after the ceasefire and peace negotiations, a real era of rapprochement between peoples will begin,” said Nikolai Platoshkin. The analyst stressed the importance of rapprochement at the cultural level. According to him, a positive example in this regard is the Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk festival. “Perhaps we need to create a joint film studio, a joint editorial office for publishing literary works. This existed in Soviet times. There was the Friendship of Peoples library, which published writers from the union republics (including Maksim Tank, of course, and others, and Ukrainian writers). This might seem insignificant to some. But no, it is the foundation of peace,” said Nikolai Platoshkin.
Reflecting on the importance of culture in building bridges between peoples, Nikolai Platoshkin noted that Ukraine’s main literary hero is Nikolai Gogol, who came to St. Petersburg and began telling stories about his homeland. “Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka”, Little Russian tales, as he called them. And he made folk Ukraine fashionable,” remarked the analyst. “Gogol, it seems to me, did 150 times more for mutual understanding between Russians and Ukrainians with his works. And he wrote in Russian, but using local color.” He added that among those who were for the connection of peoples are also Lesya Ukrainka and Ivan Franko.
“But the elite were always being tossed about. ‘Let’s ally with the Crimean Tatars against the Russians’, ‘let’s ally with the Russians against the Turks’, ‘let’s ally with the Turks against the Poles’. And what did they maneuver themselves into as a result? That almost nothing remained of Ukraine in terms of human potential back then. After all, the Poles slaughtered them. The Crimean Tatars said: ‘We’ll help you, but give us 100,000 captives, we need to sell them into slavery, otherwise we won’t do anything’,” said Nikolai Platoshkin. “It’s a shame that the people there don’t even remember their own history in this sense.”
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