Just lately within the afternoon in Invoice Cerka, a quiet metropolis in central Ukraine, a 59-year-old historical past trainer settled in a colourful cafe, opened a laptop computer and entered Chatroulette, an internet platform that connects strangers world wide.
Its goal? To show Russians, residents of a nation who invaded it, slightly from Ukrainian historical past.
After minutes, a center -aged Russian man appeared on the display screen, talking of what appeared like a grocery retailer. Vitalii dribnytsia, the historical past trainer doesn’t waste time, opening with a deliberate provocative query: “To whom does Crimea belong?” he requested, referring to the Ukrainian Black Sea Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
“For us,” the person replied with out hesitation.
This was adopted by a surprising change of the historic roots of Ukraine and Russia, the Conflict of Independence of Ukraine from 1917 to 1921 and the Ukrainian language. Typically the Russian hesitated for historic info, however ultimately he eliminated all the things. “The Web will let you know all the things,” he mentioned. “Ukraine by no means existed and by no means.”
It was simply one of many a whole lot of on-line conversations, Dribnytsia, a former highschool trainer and highschool, had random Russians within the final three years of battle, as he seeks to problem the Kremlin that Russia’s Ukrainian is a fabrication and, usually, Ukraine belongs to Russia.
Virtually every single day, for a number of hours at a time, Mr. Dribnytsia is dedicated to Russians at Chatroulette, utilizing precise tone and sharp inquiries to attempt to debunk broadly maintained beliefs in Russia: that Ukraine as a individuals was created by the Soviet Union that its leaders are neo-Nazi or that its language is solely dialete.
Movies from the candid discussions of the Dribnytsia, which he uploads to YouTube, has attracted an enormous research in Ukraine. His YouTube channelReferred to as “Vox Veritatis”, Latin for “The Voice of Fact” boasts practically half one million subscribers, with Ukrainians watching conversations to be taught extra about their very own historical past and sharpen their arguments in protection of Ukraine’s proper to sovereignty.
Its exchanges have supplied a uncommon and strange window within the politicization of historical past in Russia, shedding mild on the ideological foundations behind Russia’s makes an attempt to erase the previous and id of Ukraine, together with from from systematic destruction of Ukrainian cultural sitesS
“Folks often have no idea their very own historical past. That is regular. However on this battle in Russia, it isn’t simply ignorance – it is the weapon of historical past,” says Dribnytsia in a latest interview in Bila Tser, his household. “I am simply making an attempt to set the document.”
Berpov man with a white beard, d -Dribnytsia is aware of from the expertise of how historical past can be utilized as a political instrument. He has studied the story in Kiev in recent times that Ukraine is a part of the Soviet Union when liberalizing reforms started to carry the lid of a long time of muted historic occasions.
He nonetheless remembers one in every of his academics describing Holodomor, the Kremlin’s engineering hunger who killed millions of Ukrainians in 1932-33.As “the invention of the Western bourgeois historians” – just for college students to learn later about starvation in Pravda, the official newspaper of the Communist Social gathering.
“We went to the college as typical Soviet college students. However till we graduated, the ideological panorama has modified fully,” says G -n -Dribbi, who accomplished a grasp’s diploma in 1991, the 12 months by which the Soviet Union collapsed and Ukraine declared independence.
He started instructing the identical 12 months utilizing textbooks that haven’t but been up to date from Soviet instances. Mr. Dribnytsia needed to depend on his personal analysis and books written by little-known reformist historians to current a model of the occasions as correct as potential.
“I spotted that I would like to show the youngsters of this new info – the info that have been both hidden by us or distorted by Soviet historical past,” he mentioned.
Former college students of G -N Dribnytsia at Invoice Cerka keep in mind him as a demanding however passionate trainer.
“He wished every of us to know his story, as a result of one can solely transfer on and make knowledgeable choices by understanding the previous,” says 3 -year -old Irina Semhail, now a math trainer at Invoice Cerqua.
In 2021, Dribnytsia retired attributable to critical well being issues. This summer season, Mr. Putin publishes an essay of 5,300 phrases distorting the story to say that Ukrainians and Russians are a “one individuals” argument that he’ll later use to make use of for for Justify his invasion as the liberation of Ukraine from the WestS
Alarmed by the Kremlin’s propaganda, D -N -Dribnytsia started to take its time to get entangled in on-line discussions with Russians about historical past. However what started as an try at open dialogue has shortly turn out to be a undertaking targeted on the debuniness of Moscow’s story, particularly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
Based mostly on their instructing abilities, Dribnytsia usually touches its interlocutors with correct questions and cuts them to point factual errors – in the end encourages them to face discrepancies of their reasoning.
In a Video of a conversation recorded two years agoSeeed by 1.7 million individuals, the Dribnytsia responds to a person who claims that the Russians and Ukrainians are brothers sounding the argument of G -N -Putin. “How do you outline brotherly nations?” – asks G -n dribnytsia.
“From historical past,” the person replies. “We now have a shared previous.”
“If the Austrians and the Hungarians lived within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, does it imply that the Austrians and the Hungarians are brothers?” Dribnytsia clicks again, pointing to 2 nations that at the moment are neighbors however converse totally different languages and have totally different traditions.
Then the Russian factors out that Russia and Ukraine share a standard faith, Christian orthodoxy. Dribnytsia responds, noting that a couple of tenth of Ukrainians are Greek Catholics earlier than they pressed once more: why ought to Russians and Ukrainians be thought of brothers?
“Possibly I am flawed,” the Russian man admits, “though I do not assume so.”
Since mid-2021, Mr. Dribnytsia has recorded over 1500 conversations-supply to plant seeds of doubt in a few of his interlocutors, though he usually meets direct hostility.
By his personal recognition, he was not an awesome success, altering individuals’s opinions. Most Russians who meet or reject his arguments straight, or Echo Kremlin Speaking Factors. Solely a small minority, often those that oppose battle, are concerned in a really historic debate, he says.
Throughout a latest on-line chat, a Russian praised the work of G -N Dribnytsia, calling for him to proceed to “expose the info”. Dimitri, a 27-year-old Russian, who opposed the battle, mentioned in a phone interview that the movies had discovered him at occasions uncared for in Russian textbooks, such because the existence of a Ukrainian state within the late 1910s.
Over time, Dribnytsia realized that his true viewers was not Russians, however hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who have been educated in Soviet instances and now wish to replace their data -part of a wider motion in battle to Ukraine to Ukraine has been free from decades of Soviet and Russian influencesS
A few of his movies the place he discusses The first appearance of Ukraine on world cards or Complex history of Ukrainian nationalist movements – Two subjects which were both ignored or distorted in Soviet textbooks – have collected over one million views.
“I train loads of him,” says Natalia Tallina, a 64-year-old Ukrainian retiree who described himself as “fashioned within the Soviet Union”. She mentioned that she now feels extra assured of arguing with acquaintances who “have no idea our historical past” in any respect and unfold Russian tales.
In his conversations, Dribnytsia is commonly requested in regards to the darker heads of Ukrainian historical past, together with the cooperation of nationalist actions with the Nazis throughout World Conflict II. He doesn’t deviate from the subject, recognizing their cooperation, whereas noting that the Nazis later suppress the identical teams.
Three years of battle and so lengthy, making an attempt to appropriate historic lies, they took a payment for the Dribnytsia. He loses his peace of thoughts extra usually throughout on-line conversations and believed it was ineffective to attempt to change the minds of his Russian interlocutors.
“Most of them go to a chatlet to focus on Ukrainians and press their fabricated tales,” he mentioned. “They don’t seem to be right here to listen to one other perspective or to be taught one thing new.”
Yaroslav Hugotak, a outstanding Ukrainian historian who watched the movies of the Dribnytsia, mentioned his work may look in useless. But when nobody set the document straight, he famous, then “Mr. Putin wins.”
“His efforts really make the proper which means,” mentioned Hrittak. “It is about restoring our dignity, proving that Ukraine as a nation exists.”
Daria Mittius and Labina’s night time Contributes to reporting.
