#Crimea Has Nothing to Do With Ukraine #Chersonese Is Sevastopol #Russians suffered from repressions more than Crimean Tatars Serhiy Hromenko #Sevastopol Is the “City of Russian Glory” #Crimea Is the Original Russian Land #Crimean Tatars Are the “Traitorous People” #Khrushchev Gave Crimea to Ukraine #Crimea Was Transferred as a “Bag of Potatoes” #Crimea Has Always Belonged to Russia #Crimean Tatars Massively Deserted From the Red Army #Deportation Was a Rescue for the Crimean Tatars #Chersonese Is Sevastopol #Crimea Has Always Belonged to Russia #Deportation Was a Rescue for the Crimean Tatars #Crimean Tatars Are Not the Indigenous People of Crimea #CrimeaIsOurs #Crimea Has Always Belonged to Russia #Crimea was transferred to Ukraine illegally #Crimea Has Always Belonged to Russia #Crimea Has Always Belonged to Russia #Sevastopol Was not Transferred to Ukraine #Chersonese Is Sevastopol #Crimean Tatars Massively Deserted From the Red Army #Crimea Has Always Belonged to Russia #Khrushchev Gave Crimea to Ukraine #Khrushchev Gave Crimea to Ukraine #Deportation Was a Rescue for the Crimean Tatars #Greeks Are the Most Ancient Indigenous People of Crimea #Crimea Has Always Belonged to Russia #Crimea Was Transferred as a “Bag of Potatoes” #Chersonese Is Sevastopol #Crimea Has Always Belonged to Russia #Greeks Are the Most Ancient Indigenous People of Crimea #Crimea is a “spiritual source” and “primary baptismal font” of Russia #Khrushchev Gave Crimea to Ukraine #Crimea Has Always Belonged to Russia #Crimea Has Always Belonged to Russia #Russians suffered from repressions more than Crimean Tatars History of the Russian Myth #Crimea Has Nothing to Do With Ukraine #Russians suffered from repressions more than Crimean Tatars #Khrushchev Gave Crimea to Ukraine#Crimea Has Always Belonged to Russia #Crimean Tatars Are Not the Indigenous People of Crimea #Chersonese Is Sevastopol #Khrushchev Gave Crimea to Ukraine #Greeks Are the Most Ancient Indigenous People of Crimea #Crimea Has Nothing to Do With Ukraine #Chersonese Is Sevastopol #Crimea is a “spiritual source” and “primary baptismal font” of Russia #Chersonese Is Sevastopol #Crimea Has Always Belonged to Russia #Russians suffered from repressions more than Crimean Tatars #Crimea Has Nothing to Do With Ukraine #Crimea Has Always Belonged to Russia #Khrushchev Gave Crimea to Ukraine 2017 #Sevastopol Is the “City of Russian Glory” #Deportation Was a Rescue for the Crimean Tatars Serhiy Hromenko #CrimeaIsOurs History of the Russian Myth 2017 UDC 32.019.51:94(477.75) S. V. Hromenko, (2017). #CrimeaIsOurs. History of the Russian Myth / S. V. Hromenko. Kyiv. 224 pages, pictures. ISBN 978-617-7260-10-2 The annexation of Crimea that caused the largest political crisis in Europe since the Second World War at the same time spurred the unprecedented flowering of political mythology. In 2014, a large number of separate myths and falsified facts gave rise to the so-called “Crimea-is-ours” myth designed to justify the aggressive policy of the Russian Federation in the eyes of the world. Is Crimea really an original Russian land? Is it true that the Crimean Tatars are all traitors? Was the peninsula really integrated into Ukraine illegally? And what, after all, were the events of February–March 2014–the occupation of Crimea or the “restoration of historical justice”? This book gives answers to all these questions. For politicians, public figures, historians and journalists. With the assistance of Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine. Set of services related to graphic products printing is performed by Mega-press group LLC made to order of Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine. © S. V. Hromenko, text, picture selection, 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS Reduced Names of Archives...................................................................................4 Foreword. “Crimea-is-ours” as a Political Myth....................................................7 Introduction. Decade of Lies. Creation of the “Crimean Myth” in the USSR (1944–1953)..........................................................................................................13 Part 1. The Great Past of The Hero and His “Birthright”......................................39 Myth 1. Crimea Is an Originally Russian Land.....................................................41 Myth 2. Crimea Has Always Belonged to Russia...................................................48 Myth 3. Crimea is a “Spiritual Source” and “Primary Baptismal Font” of Russia...56 Myth 4. Chersonese Is Sevastopol.........................................................................65 Myth 5. Sevastopol Is the “City of the Russian Glory”..........................................69 Part 2. The Villain, His Machinations and Defeat.................................................81 Myth 6. Crimean Tatars Are Not the Indigenous People of Crimea......................83 Myth 7. The Greeks Are the Most Ancient Indigenous People of Crimea..........91 Myth 8. Crimean Tatars Deserted the Red Army en Masse...........................97 Myth 9. Crimean Tatars Are a “Traitor People”...................................................107 Myth 10. The Deportation Saved Crimean Tatars.............................................118 Myth 11. Russians Suffered from Repressions More than Crimean Tatars...........127 Part 3. The Traitor and His “Stab in the Back” to The Hero................................133 Myth 12. Crimea Has Nothing to Do With Ukraine.............................................135 Myth 13. Khrushchev Presented Crimea as a Gift to Ukraine..............................141 Myth 14. Crimea Was Transferred to Ukraine Illegally.......................................149 Myth 15. Sevastopol Was not Transferred to Ukraine.........................................178 Myth 16. Crimea Was Transferred as a “Sack of Potatoes”...................................198 Afterword. The Annexation of Crimea as an Object of Myth-Making.................204 Summary........................................................................................................212 Резюме (укр.).....................................................................................................214 Резюме (рус.).....................................................................................................216 3 REDUCED NAMES OF ARCHIVES APRF Arkhiv Presidenta Rossiyskoy Federatsii (Archives of the President of the Russian Federation) GARF Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Rossiyskoy Federatsii (State Archives of the Russian Federation) DAARK Derzhavnyi arkhiv v Avtonomnii Respublitsi Krym (State Archives in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea) RGAKFD Rossiyskiy gosudarstvennyi arkhiv kinofotodokumentov (Russian State Archives of Cinema and Photo Documents) RGASPI Rossiyskiy gosudarstvennyi arkhiv sotsyalno-politicheskoy istorii (Russian State Archives of Social and Political History) TsAMO Tsentralnyi arkhiv Ministerstva oborony RF (Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation) TsVMA Tsentralnyi voenno-morskoy arkhiv Ministerstva oborony RF (Central Naval Archives of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation) TsGA RSFSR Tsentralnyi gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Rossiyskoy Sovetskoy Federativnoy Sotsialisticheskoy Respubliki (Central State Archives of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) TsGAOR Tsentralnyi gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Oktyabrskoy revolyutsii, vysshikh organov gosudarstvennoy vlasti i organov gosudarstvennogo upravleniya Ukrainy (Central State Archives of the October Revolution, Supreme State Authorities and Government Bodies of the USSR (currently part of the GARF)) TsDAVOVU Tsentralnyi derzhavnyi arkhiv vyshchykh orhaniv vlady ta upravlinnia Ukrainy (Central State Archives of Supreme Bodies of Power and Government of Ukraine) TsDAHO Tsentralnyi derzhavnyi arkhiv hromadskykh obyednan Ukrainy (Central State Archives of Public Associations of Ukraine) 4 SERHIY HROMENKO. #CRIMEAISOURS: HISTORY OF THE RUSSIAN MYTH FOREWORD. “CRIMEA-IS-OURS” AS A POLITICAL MYTH It is human nature to believe in myths at any time, but their role especially increases during revolutions and wars. The annexation of Crimea that caused the largest political crisis in Europe since the Second World War at the same time spurred the unprecedented flowering of political mythology. In 2014, a large number of separate myths and falsified facts gave rise to the so-called “Crimea-is-ours” myth designed to justify the aggressive policy of the Russian Federation in the eyes of the world. Is Crimea really an original Russian land? Is it true that the Crimean Tatars are all traitors? Was the peninsula really integrated into Ukraine illegally? And what, after all, were the events of February–March 2014–the occupation of Crimea or the “restoration of historical justice”? You will learn all this if you read this book. • Mythology and myth-making exist as long as humanity itself. But it would be wrong to think that the sphere of myths is limited only to legends about gods and heroes. In fact, myth in the broadest sense is a form of human thinking, a model of the real world simplified to distortion, and therefore not only “divine”, but also “earthly” things inevitably fall into the sphere of the mythical, one of which is politics. Ancient world societies practically did not separate legends about gods from stories about rulers, but as we approached the present day, the aura of supernaturalism around myths faded, revealing a completely rational “skeleton”. Today, people believe almost as passionately as they