Ruthenia vs Russia

[Wladzimier Katkowski]

Smolensk has been historically populated by ethnic Belarusians (as
you can learn from various documents from the archives of the Grand
Duchy of Lithuania), while since late 19th century and clearly during
20th century the russification policies made those ethnic Belarusians
virtually indistinguishable from Russians and non-aware of their
origins.

So, as of today, it is rather perceived as Russian, while it
hasn't been the case in the past. And in Belarusian historical books
(which of course could be biased) it is oftedn still included as
ethnically Belarusian land. Also, even before the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania, early chornicle tells us that Smolensk was populated by
Kryvichians (the tribe which is considered the backbone of Belarusian
ethnos).

W.K.


> > In Belarusian language the distinction is crystal clear:
> >
> > 1) Ruthenia (en) = Rus' (by) - and it refers to the dukedoms
> > of Kyiw, Polacak, Turaw, Czarnihow, Smalensk, Novharad. (Of them
> > only Novogorod can be considered Russian in the modern sense of this
> > word).
> What about Smolensk?
>
> Ilon Fraiman.

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