The U.S. Embassy Kyiv is trolling Putin:

[demmiblue]

Link to tweet

[lindysalsagal]

1. In your face, vlaaaaad. We were here FIRST.

[dalton99a]

2. Perfect.

[BootinUp]

3. lol. nt

[Ray Bruns]

4. Ouch. That has gotta hurt.

[niyad]

5. Excellent!

[halfulglas]

6. Gee. If Ukraine always belonged to Russia, you would think Russia would have had these

Beautiful structures in Mother Russia.

[oldsoftie]

13. Maybe UKR should be ruling Russia instead of the other way around.

[Martin68]

7. Posted on FB. Thanks!

[gristy]

8. Yep. Moscow was founded in 1147.

First documented in 1147, Moscow grew to become a prosperous and powerful city that served as the capital of the Grand Duchy that bears its namesake. When the Grand Duchy of Moscow evolved into the Tsardom of Russia, Moscow still remained as the political and economic center for most of the Tsardom's history. When the Tsardom was reformed into the Russian Empire, the capital was moved from Moscow to Saint Petersburg diminishing the influence of the city. The capital was then moved back to Moscow following the October Revolution and the city was brought back as the political center of the Russian SFSR and then the Soviet Union.[16] In the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Moscow remained as the capital city of the contemporary and newly established Russian Federation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow

[PatSeg]

9. Oh snap!!!

That's gotta smart!

[IronLionZion]

10. Kiev was founded in 482

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyiv

And has a quite a history.

[2naSalit]

19. +1

[calimary]

11. Quite a comparison.

But I have to confess - sometimes I wanna choose the untouched, NOT-cut-down trees… (she said, coming from EVERYTHING’S-built-up-and-paved-over L.A.)

[soldierant]

36. I can cetainly understand that.

But do we really know it looked (relatively like that? It may not have been founded, but that doesn't mean it wasn;t a cluster of peasant hovels. Or maybe a hut on hen's legs.

[calimary]

37. Baba Yaga!!!

[soldierant]

39. Yup!

[WhiskeyGrinder]

12. Y'all, this meme can be read from a Russian perspective in such a way that it supports Putin's

thesis. "Kyiv was the center of Kyievan Rus and it's time we reunite!" It's also a favorite of right-wing Ukrainian nationalists (but I repeat myself), in that it touts the ethnic superiority of Ukraine over the "big village" of Moscow. Utterly illiterate meme use across the board.

ETA: Putin's a Petersburger anyway, lol.

[Celerity]

32. The Rus came from Sweden. The eastern shore and the archipelago of what is now modern Stockholm was

called Roslagen. The name comes from the rodslag, which is an old coastal Uppland word for a rowing crew of warrior oarsmen. Etymologically, Roden, or Roslagen, is the source of the Finnish and Estonian names for Sweden: Ruotsi and Rootsi. A person from Roslagen is called a Rospigg which means "inhabitant of Ros". Swedes from the Roslagen area, that is "the people of Ros", gave their name to the Rus' people and thus to the states of Russia and Belarus.





The Kyievan Rus conquered Kyiv from its East Slavic founders. They spread out and became became dominant in terms of foundations of the modern Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, etc. Obviously there was a lot of intertribal/ethnic breeding over the last 12+ centuries, but you can often see the Nordic blonde genes strongly in all of those nations.

Ukrainian



Swedish



Russian

[BlueIdaho]

14. In your face

You big disgrace…

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

15. Be careful when you troll:/

Kiev was once the capital of Rus, so the historical/spiritual/cultural/etc connections from Putin's rambling speech may be true.

Bringing up the ancient history may not be helpful.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

17. The cultural illiteracy in the decision to post it is breathtaking to me.

[wnylib]

21. Russia took its name from

Ukrainian Rus, not the other way around.

[Celerity]

33. The Rus are Swedish in origin

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=16384301


added bonus


Roslagsbanan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roslagsbanan

[wnylib]

34. I've heard of that. And some say Finnish.

But the Lithuanians, Latvians, Polish, Ukranians, and others were all part of the multicultural, multi religious Duchy of Lithuania, from around the 13th century to the 18th century. Prior to that (10th century) there was Kievan Rus, the ancestor of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kievan_Rus%27

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rus

[The Unmitigated Gall]

16. Priceless.

[Roc2020]

18. Bam!

Ya wrong Putin

[bif]

20. And Russians like to think they bought culture and civilization to Ukraine!

And the other former Eastern Block countries! Too funny!

[SunSeeker]

40. Well, Russia did bring starvation to Ukraine.

https://www.history.com/news/ukrainian-famine-stalin

[Jilly_in_VA]

22. LMAO

Now that stuff IS funny!

[DFW]

23. Ha, I used that argument on an unpleasant neighbor many years ago.

It was before I lived here full time. Chernobyl had just happened, and everyone was leaving their shoes outside the door to their residences, since the ground had been found to have light traces of radiation, and our girls were only 1 and 3.

Our nasty neighbor rang the bell and gave me the riot act. We CAN'T leave our shoes in front of the door. He had PAID for his apartment, and he couldn't have his guests see shoes in front of the door opposite. I don't know in what country they do that kind of thing (i.e. "you dirty foreigner" ) but here in DEUTSCHLAND we don't, so please remove them. I then said, well, they do it in Japan, where people could read and write while your ancestors were running naked through the woods here!

To avoid punching him in the mouth, I then asked my wife to take over the conversation, so I could avoid committing a felony.

[reACTIONary]

28. +10 nt

[yellowdogintexas]

24. I would absolutely love to tour all of those gorgeous old buildings

I can walk in the woods without leaving Texas

[FakeNoose]

25. This is impressive to historians and perhaps architects

... however I don't believe ol' Pootie will lose a minute's sleep over it.

Just sayin'

[cilla4progress]

26. Love it!

Thanks.

[sl8]

27. "US Embassy in Ukraine Posts Cringe Memes as It Retreats to Poland"

US Embassy in Ukraine Posts Cringe Memes as It Retreats to Poland

The United States' Kyiv embassy is now tweeting memes portraying Russia as a historical backwater.

By Jason Koebler
February 22, 2022, 10:26am

Last week, the U.S. embassy in Ukraine left Kyiv for Lviv as the region and the world braces for a potential Russian invasion. Monday night, it relocated to Poland. Tuesday morning, as Russian troops have begun crossing into Ukraine, the U.S. embassy is shitposting memes on Twitter.

[...]

This meme, besides being a shitpost, is an attempt to portray Ukraine—and Kyiv—as significantly preceding modern Moscow as an established city and culture, ostensibly to show that Ukraine has its own identity as being separate from Russia. This is seemingly a response to Vladimir Putin’s Monday speech in which he said Ukraine was historically Russian and should become a part of Russia again: “Modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia, more precisely, Bolshevik, communist Russia. This process began immediately after the revolution of 1917,” Putin said. “Ukraine has never had a tradition of genuine statehood.”

Besides this tweet being generally pathetic and broadly unhelpful, many—including experts in the region—are pointing out that the tweet can be seen as broadly supporting Putin’s general view that Ukraine is part of Russia's storied history. It also supports a line of thinking held by many right-wing Ukrainian nationalists who say that historically Ukraine was an established civilization and Russia was a backwater, and wades into useless and dangerous "ethno-medieval territory," according to Atlantic Council senior fellow Ben Judah.

This is far from the first time we’ve seen official government social media accounts share terrible posts in the middle of a crisis. The Israeli government’s attempts to win hearts and minds over social media as it bombs Gaza often backfire, and Russia has a long history of shitposting on Twitter, including during this most recent crisis in Ukraine.

[Hekate]

29. Well done

[SunSeeker]

30. K & R & Retweeted!

[BannonsLiver]

31. Gotta love the boo hoo don't hurt Vlad's feelings hot takes.

Very on brand.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

35. What's sad is how many of those responding to the Tweet don't get it.

[Faux pas]

38. Lol