Was Ukraine the part of the former Soviet Union?

Question by XTC666: What is the Former Soviet Union?
I know now its Russia but Im a little embaresed to ask this question cuz my family is Ukranian and they would throw a fit that I dont know my history. But I know back in the day Ukraine and Russia were together – does that mean former soviet union? im confused.

By the way Im going to Poland in 2 days and i wanna know what their status is with ukraine? I speak russian but I dunno how they would look at me…maybe in a bad light since they dontl ike Russia?

Please help and thank you 🙂

Answers and Views:

Answer by Mariah
USSR

Answer by Lobengula
Yes that would be the Soviet Union:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union

Today, Ukraine is independent and I seriously doubt that any Polish people will have any negative attitudes towards people with Ukraine origins. They were occupied but it was Russia that ruled then. Ukraine was just a member state.

Answer by LaFeeFan
The former Soviet Union consisted of Russia and the nowadays independent countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kasakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, and the Ukraine.
I have only added countries which are located at least partly in Europe or are members of the Council of Europe.

In the other site we had the NATO forces and the forces of the Warsaw pact which have been opponent until the break-down of the communist system.
Former Warsaw pact countries were Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.

Today most Warsaw Pact states locates westwards to Russia are integrated in the European Union.

Today Poland and the Ukraine are still two different countries as it have been Poland and Russia before although there are a lot of ties between them historically.

They wíll like you speaking Russian as being different from most of tourists of English speaking countries who thinks everybody must be able to communicate in their language.

Answer by Mimi
Ukraine and Russia used to be both part of Soviet Union,
where Russia used to have a dominating role.
Now it is two separate countries and as Ukraine tries to get out of
Russian influence, leaning closer to European Union, this fact
pisses russians off a big way. Similar stuff – with Poland, even
though, it have never been part of Soviet Union, but as ruled by communists after WW-II, it was one of Russia’s close satellite.
Now it conduct its own politic where they try to have totally different coarse and again it makes them almost like enemies with Russia.
I would NOT suggest to speak russian in Poland. Most polish don’t
like russian too much, especially in the light of all controversial things that are going on lately in between these two counties.
Speak English, you can say you are ukrainian too, polish people
are OK with ukrainians.

Answer by John O
russia as the ussr was made up of several country much like saying england. great Britain is england scotland wales and northern ireland. under english/british rule

Answer by Alejandro J
The former Soviet Union refers to all of the nations that encompassed the Soviet Union:
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Belarus
the Ukraine
Georgia
Azerbaijan
Armenia
Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan
Turkmenistan
Kyrgyzstan

There is an organization called CIS which is the Commonwealth of Independent States which was a type of union between all of the old Soviet states, excluding the Baltic States. Russia was the dominant country in the Soviet Union so saying Russians or Soviets was one in the same during the Soviet era.

The Soviet Union itself was the union of communists states (the ones listed above) that lasted from 1922 until 1991.

As for the situation with Poland and the Ukraine, both countries are very close. The Ukraine, in its western part is the Ukrainian lands where the eastern part of the Ukraine is more Russian. In the western part, they speak Ukrainian and the eastern part Russian is dominant. With Poland and the Ukraine, they share a lot of history together, constantly persecuted by the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union. Also, parts of Poland and the Ukraine were always debated as to whether it was one or the other and so many Poles and Ukrainians have lived together and close by for many centuries and share a common history together.

As for not liking Russians, there is still an anti-Russian feel in parts of Poland and the Ukraine. Since Russians, during the days of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, tried to force their language, customs and culture in that region, there is a bias against Russians. While things are changing over time, there is still some hostility towards Russians. As for speaking Russian, Russian and Ukrainian languages are somewhat similar, with only some words being different. If you speak Russian, you can communicate with Ukrainians and somewhat with Poles.

Have a good trip.

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