History of Bukovina with maps. Bukovina

Carpathian Rus Carpathian Rus (Galician Rus, Bukovina, Ugric Rus) Rusyns (Russians) live mainly in the lands of Slovakia, Poland and "Little" Rus 1772. Galician Russia (the main cities of Galich, Przemysl, Zvenigorod) was under the rule of Russian Lithuania. 1772-1918.

In 1940, the USSR, in accordance with the secret protocol of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and with the help of military blackmail, annexed Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, which at that time were part of Romania, but during the Second World War it was occupied by the Germans and Romanians. In 1944, Soviet troops returned Northern Bukovina. In the same year, Southern Bukovina, which accounted for 60% of Bukovina's lands and was predominantly populated by Romanians, was transferred to the Socialist Republic of Romania. Northern Bukovina went to the USSR and became part of the Chernivtsi region of the Ukrainian SSR, now - Ukraine.

Bukovina is a historical and geographical region in the Southern Carpathian region. In dry times, it covers parts of the territory of the modern Chernivtsi region in Ukraine (Northern Bukovina) and the Suceava region in Romania (Southern Bukovina).

ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BORDER

Separate parts of the territory of Bukovica were on opposite sides of the borders, but this does not prevent the locals from remaining faithful to traditions.

The majority of the population of Northern Bukovina are Ukrainians, followed by Romanians and Moldovans - the descendants of the inhabitants of the once united Bukovina, their number is one fifth of the entire population of Northern Bukovina.

Here is an extremely curious linguistic picture: although Ukrainian is the only state language, the majority of the population speaks two or more languages: Ukrainians and Moldovans speak Russian, Poles speak Ukrainian, and elderly Ukrainians have not forgotten Romanian either.

Northern Bukovina is covered with forests dominated by spruce, fir and, of course, beech. A rich fauna has been preserved: Carpathian deer, roe deer, wild boar, fox.

The rivers of Bukovina have long been known as waterways for timber rafting from the Carpathian Mountains to the plains. The path was short, but extremely dangerous, the rafting profession in Bukovina has always been considered extremely risky, legends and songs were composed about these desperate guys. Nowadays, a special kind of water tourism has appeared on these rivers - sports mountain rafting on traditional long Bukovina rafts: pleasure is not for the faint of heart, because the current here is swift, there are many treacherous rapids, and the channel is extremely winding.

Many local attractions are associated with the Ukrainian movement of the Carpathian oprishki, especially with the name of the rebel leader Oleksa Dovbush (1700-1745). Known are "Dovbush stones", "Dovbush rocks", but the most popular and visited is the "Dovbush cave" in the Putivl region.

Bukovinians have many holidays, the most popular are the Ukrainian "Exit to the meadows", "Shovkova moss" and the holiday of humor and folklore "Zakharetsky Garchik", as well as the Romanian national holidays "Mertisor", "Limba noaster chya romine" and "Floril Dalbe" ”, in which all national and cultural organizations of the region participate.

Chernivtsi is the main city of Northern Bukovina and the historical center of all Bukovina. The city's prosperity was facilitated by its location at the crossroads of trade routes from northwestern Europe to the Balkans and Turkey. As a result of wars and changes of power, almost all Germans were evicted from Chernivtsi in 1940, and the number of Poles and Romanians sharply decreased in Soviet times. Now the majority of the population in the city are Ukrainians. As for the Jews, who under the Romanians made up almost a third of the city's population, the majority died during the Second World War in numerous German concentration camps. After the war, most of the survivors fled to Romania.

Southern Bukovina in Romania includes one Suceava county. Romanians are the majority population in Southern Bukovina, followed by the Roma by a wide margin. The county's capital city is called Suceava, and it houses the main value of Southern Bukovina - the Throne Fortress, the ancient place of the coronation of Moldavian rulers.

CURIOUS FACTS

■ Television of Northern Bukovina (Ukraine) broadcasts news in Ukrainian, but the speech in Russian is given without translation, and at the end of the broadcast, the same broadcast follows, but in Romanian and with a different presenter.

■ The name of the city of Zastavna comes, according to local residents, not at all from the customs “outpost”, which was once located here at the crossing over the Sovitsa River, but from the location of the city behind three ponds: “stav” is in Ukrainian and means “pond”.

■ Folk hero of Bukovina Oleksa Dovbush suffered from muteness as a child, but Iosif Yavny cured him. People like Yavny were called molfars in Bukovina: they were healers, healers, keepers of ancient knowledge and culture of the Bukovinians. The name "molfar" comes from the word "molfa" - the object on which the spell is cast.

■ In Russian Ryazan in the 1970s. Entuziastov Avenue was renamed Chernovitskaya Street - in honor of the city of Chernivtsi, which is twinned with Ryazan.

■ The name of the center of South Bukovina, unusual for a Slav, is Suceava, which, as is commonly believed, comes from the Hungarian word suchshvar, literally translated as “zamokfurshchik”. A friend of the version, the city inherited the name from the river, and the word itself is of Ukrainian origin.

■ The greatest influx of Poles to Bukovina began during the Austrian domination, when Bukovina was united with Galicia under the name Chernivtsi district. Many of those who arrived were Gorali - a population living in the highlands of Poland. It was they who became the main distributors of Catholicism in Bukovina.

ATTRACTION

■ Natural: Vizhnitsky National Natural Park, Gorny Eye Lake, Nemchich Pass, Kamennaya Bogachka Rock, or Sworn Rock, Caliman Mountains.
■ Religious: a wooden church (the village of Selyatin, XVII century), the Greek Catholic Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Storozhinets, 1865), St. Nicholas Church (Putilsky district, 1886).
■ Historical: Throne Fortress (Suceava, Romania, 14th century), Oleksa Dovbush's Cave, Museum-Estate of Ukrainian literary figure Yuriy Fedkovich (Putila village, 18th century), Memorial House-Museum of writer Mikhail Sadovyanu (Falticeni, Romania).
■ Architectural: the Flonder Palace (Storozhinets, 1880), the town hall (Storozhinets, 1905).
■ Chernivtsi: the wooden St. Nicholas Church (1607), the cathedral in the style of late classicism (1844-1864), the Museum of the History and Culture of the Jews of Bukovina, Chernivtsi National University named after Yuriy Fedkovych (the former residence of the Orthodox metropolitans of Bukovina and Dalmatia, 1882), a neo-Gothic Jesuit church (1893-1894). Museum of Folk Architecture and Life, Museum of the Bukovinian Diaspora, architectural ensemble of Rynok Square (XVIII-XIX centuries), City Hall (1840s), Theater Square (early XX century), Chernivtsi Theater (1904-1905).

Atlas. The whole world is in your hands №245

Bukovina is the historical name of a part of the territory of the modern Chernivtsi region in Ukraine, called Northern Bukovina, and the Suceava region (county) in Romania, known as Southern Bukovina.
The name Bukovina, or “beech forest”, is understandable without translation and emphasizes the uniformity of the vegetation cover: in the past, beech forests covered most of its territory.
Geographically, Bukovina is the foothills of the Southern Carpathian region with heights of more than one and a half kilometers. This is a region of short, but swift rivers, whose waters descend along the slopes of the mountains and belong to the Danube basin. In summer, the rivers are shallow, but in spring they can cause catastrophic floods, filling up after heavy rains and melting snow.
The very definition of "Bukovina", as well as the designation of this Carpathian region, is first found in written sources in 1392.
The indigenous population of Bukovina in the north were the East Slavic tribes of Tivertsy and Ulich, and in the south - partly Vlachs and Slavs, as well as Thracians, residents of another historical region - Dacia, whose borders intersected with Bukovina.
After long intertribal wars in the X-XI centuries. Bukovina became part of Kievan Rus. In the XII-XIII centuries. the ancient Russian state collapsed and Bukovina became part of the Galicia-Volyn principality.
A feature of Bukovina was that, despite the common geography, the history of the north and south developed independently.
While Northern Bukovina was under the influence of the Galicia-Volyn principality, Southern Bukovina was under the rule of the Moldavian state. The Mongol-Tatar horde burned and plundered the Galicia-Volyn principality, and the Ruthenian population of Bukovina took advantage of this, creating at the beginning of the 14th century. own state - the Shipinsk land, which preferred to pay tribute to the Golden Horde khans, but to have at least nominal independence. The natural features of Bukovina also played their role - the presence of mountains and many mountain rivers that served as an obstacle to the invaders.
When the influence of the khans weakened, the Catholic rulers of Hungary and Poland began to claim these lands, and in the middle of the 14th century. Bukovinians preferred to unite with the Moldavian Principality, but it was at the beginning of the 16th century. came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
The Bukovinians entered the history of Eastern Europe as fearless fighters for independence from Poland and Turkey, calling themselves opryshki and haidamaks.
During the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. Bukovina was liberated by the Russian army, but after its departure, the region found itself in the position of a backward colony (although it was formally called a duchy) under the rule of the Austrian Habsburgs, who retained serfdom here until 1848.
During the First World War, Romania took over the whole of Bukovina.
In 1940, the USSR, in accordance with the secret protocol of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and with the help of military blackmail, annexed Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, which at that time were part of Romania, but during the Second World War it was occupied by the Germans and Romanians. In 1944, Soviet troops returned Northern Bukovina. In the same year, Southern Bukovina, which accounted for 60% of Bukovina's lands and was predominantly populated by Romanians, was transferred to the Socialist Republic of Romania. Northern Bukovina went to the USSR and became part of the Chernivtsi region of the Ukrainian SSR, now - Ukraine.
Bukovina is a historical and geographical region in the Southern Carpathian region. Nowadays, it covers parts of the territory of the modern Chernivtsi region in Ukraine (Northern Bukovina) and the Suceava region in Romania (Southern Bukovina).
Separate parts of the territory of Bukovina turned out to be on opposite sides of the borders, but this does not prevent the locals from remaining faithful to traditions.
The majority of the population of Northern Bukovina are Ukrainians, followed by Romanians and Moldovans - the descendants of the inhabitants of the once united Bukovina, their number is one fifth of the entire population of Northern Bukovina.
Here is an extremely curious linguistic picture: although Ukrainian is the only state language, the majority of the population speaks two or more languages: Ukrainians and Moldovans speak Russian, Poles speak Ukrainian, and elderly Ukrainians have not forgotten Romanian either.
Northern Bukovina is covered with forests dominated by spruce, fir and, of course, beech. A rich fauna has been preserved: Carpathian deer, roe deer, wild boar, fox.
The rivers of Bukovina have long been known as waterways for timber rafting from the Carpathian Mountains to the plains. The path was short, but extremely dangerous, the rafting profession in Bukovina has always been considered extremely risky, legends and songs were composed about these desperate guys. Nowadays, a special kind of water tourism has appeared on these rivers - sports mountain rafting on traditional long Bukovina rafts: pleasure is not for the faint of heart, because the current here is swift, there are many treacherous rapids, and the channel is extremely winding.
Many local attractions are associated with the Ukrainian movement of the Carpathian oprishki, especially with the name of the rebel leader Oleksa Dovbush (1700-1745). Known are "Dovbush stones", "Dovbush rocks", but the most popular and visited is the "Dovbush cave" in the Putivl region.
Bukovinians have many holidays, the most popular are the Ukrainian “Coming to the meadows”, “Shovkova moss” and the holiday of humor and folklore “Zakharetsky Garchik”, as well as the Romanian national holidays “Mertisor”, “Limba noaster chya romine” and “Floril Dalbe”, in which all national and cultural organizations of the region participate.
Chernivtsi is the main city of Northern Bukovina and the historical center of all Bukovina. The prosperity of the city was facilitated by its location at the crossroads of trade routes from northwestern Europe to the Balkans and Turkey. As a result of wars and changes of power, almost all Germans were evicted from Chernivtsi in 1940, and the number of Poles and Romanians sharply decreased in Soviet times. Now the majority of the population in the city are Ukrainians. As for the Jews, who under the Romanians made up almost a third of the city's population, the majority died during the Second World War in numerous German concentration camps. After the war, most of the survivors fled to Romania.
Southern Bukovina in Romania includes one Suceava county. Romanians are the majority population in Southern Bukovina, followed by the Roma by a wide margin. The county's capital city is called Suceava, and it houses the main value of Southern Bukovina - the Throne Fortress, the ancient place of the coronation of Moldavian rulers.

general information

Large settlements: the city of Chernivtsi (Ukraine) - 262,294 people. (2014), the city of Suceava (Romania) - 92,121 people. (2011), the city of Storozhinets - 14,505 people. (2012), Glybokaya village (Ukraine) - 9465 people. (2013), the city of Zastavna (Ukraine) - 8097 people. (2012), the city of Kitsman (Ukraine) - 6904 people. (2012), the city of Vizhnitsa (Ukraine) - 4230 people. (2012).

Languages: Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian.

Ethnic composition: Northern Bukovina (Ukrainians - 75%, Romanians - 12.5%, Moldovans - 7.3%, Russians - 4.1%, other -1.1% (2001); Southern Bukovina (Romanians - 96.3 %, Roma (gypsies) - 1.33%, Ukrainians - 1.2%, others - 1.17% (2002).

Religions: Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Romanian Orthodox Church, Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate, Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Lutheranism, Baptism, Judaism.

Monetary units: Ukrainian hryvnia, Romanian leu.

Large rivers: Prut, Siret, Suceava, White Cheremash.

Major airport: Chernivtsi International Airport (Ukraine).

Neighboring countries and territories: in the north - the regions of the Chernivtsi region and the region of Ukraine, in the south - the counties of Romania.

Numbers

Population: 1,271,814 (2014).

Population density: 93.84 people / km 2.

Mild winter, warm summer.

January average temperature: -3°C.

July average temperature: from +20°С.

Average annual rainfall: 650 mm.
Relative humidity: 70%.

Economy

traditional crafts: bedspreads, wood products.
Agriculture: animal husbandry (pasture, meat and dairy, sheep breeding, horse breeding).

Beekeeping.
Service sector: tourism, transport, trade.

Attractions

Curious facts

Bukovina- the historical name of the Ukrainian ethnic lands located between the middle reaches of the Dniester and the main Carpathian ridge in the valleys of the upper reaches of the Prut and Seret. Now this territory is part of Ukraine (Northern Bukovina - Chernivtsi region) and Romania (Southern Bukovina - Suceava and Botosani regions of Romania). Bukovina got its name, which was first found in 1392, from the beech forests that covered a significant part of its territory.

In the I-III centuries. part of the Bukovina lands was part of the Roman province of Dacia. The original inhabitants of Bukovina were Slavic tribes. During the X-XI centuries. Bukovina was part of Kievan Rus, in the XII - half of the XIV century. - Galician principality, and then the Galician-Volyn state. After the Mongol-Tatar yoke, Bukovina's ties with the Galicia-Volyn lands weakened, which led to the formation here at the beginning of the 14th century. separate Shipinskaya land, which recognized the supremacy of the Golden Horde khans. In the 40s - 50s. 14th century Bukovinian lands were under the rule of Hungary.

In the 60s. XIV century, after the formation of an independent principality of Moldavia, Bukovina became part of it, in which it was until 1774. During 1387-1497. Moldova recognized the supremacy of Poland. In the XV century. Moldova waged a fierce struggle against Turkish aggression. However, in 1514 Moldova became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. At the end of the XVI century. it was turned into an ordinary province of Turkey. At the same time, active Romanianization of the Bukovinian lands began.

During the XVI-XVIII centuries. constant were the cultural ties of Bukovina with other Ukrainian lands. Moldavian hosts were the founders of many churches in Ukraine (Assumption and Pyatnitskaya churches in Lvov, etc.). Many immigrants from Bukovina studied at schools and colleges in Kyiv, Lvov and other Ukrainian cities. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. On the Bukovina lands, the Oprishkov and Haidamak movements developed, aimed at the national liberation of the Ukrainian people.

As a result of the military actions of Russia and Austria against Turkey in 1774, Bukovina was captured by the Austrian troops. It was part of the Austrian Empire (since 1867 - Austria-Hungary) until 1918. During 1786-1849. Bukovina was part of Galicia, and later it was transformed into a separate crown region of the empire. After the recognition in 1862 of Bukovina as a separate crown region of the Austrian Empire, it was granted administrative autonomy.

During the First World War, the Bukovinian lands were occupied by Russian troops until July-August 1917. After the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the proclamation of the West Ukrainian People's Republic (ZUNR), Bukovyna was included in its composition. Power passed to the Ukrainian Regional Committee formed on October 25, 1918, which organized the Great People's Council in Chernivtsi on November 3, 1918, which decided on the entry of Bukovina into the united Ukrainian state. On November 6, 1918, Ukrainian power was established on the lands of Bukovina, populated mainly by Ukrainians. However, already on November 12, 1918, Romanian troops occupied Northern Bukovina along with Chernivtsi. Here, on November 28, 1918, the decision of the so-called General Congress of Bukovina, consisting exclusively of Romanians, to unite Bukovina with Romania was fabricated.

According to the Saint-Germain Peace Treaty of 1919, Southern Bukovina was recognized as Romania, and Northern Bukovina was recognized by the Sevres Peace Treaty of 1920. As a result of secret agreements between the USSR and Germany and the USSR's ultimatum to Romania, on June 28, 1940, the Romanian authorities left Northern Bukovina, which was occupied by Soviet troops. According to the decision of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of August 2, 1940, the Chernivtsi region was formed as part of the Ukrainian SSR.

From the first days of the Great Patriotic War, Bukovina was occupied by Romanian troops. In March-April 1944, the Chernivtsi region was liberated from the Romanian occupation and re-incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR. The peace treaty concluded by the allies with Romania in Paris on February 10, 1947, approved the border between the USSR and Romania as of June 28, 1940.

Bukovina is one of the most peculiar ethnic regions of historical Russia. This region is very small in size - 8.1 thousand square meters. km. All this territory is occupied by the Chernivtsi region of Ukraine. However, there is also Southern Bukovina, which is part of Romania. Despite its small size (in the Soviet Union, the Chernivtsi region was the smallest in terms of territory among all regions of the country, and one of the smallest in terms of the number of inhabitants), the ethnic history of Bukovina is unique.

The natural conditions of Bukovina are very favorable. The southern and central part of the region is occupied by the Carpathians and their foothills, the northern part is an elevated plain between the Prut and Dniester rivers. The highest mountains in the south: the ridges of Maksimets, Tomnatik, Cherny Dil, Yarovitsa with the highest point Mount Yarovitsa (1565 m). Forests are common in the mountains and foothills. The climate is temperate continental, humid with warm summers and mild winters, with pronounced altitudinal zoning. Chernivtsi region is rich in water resources; 75 rivers over 10 kilometers long flow through its small territory; all rivers belong to the Black Sea basin, the largest of them are the Dniester, Prut, Cheremosh (with tributaries the White Cheremosh and Putila) and Siret (with the Small Siret). Minerals are represented mainly by mineral construction raw materials; many sources of mineral waters.

On the territory of the Chernivtsi region in 2001, there were 922.8 thousand inhabitants of more than 60 nationalities. The most numerous among them, according to the official Ukrainian census, are Ukrainians. However, we recall that the Carpathian Rusyns are officially considered Ukrainians in Ukraine.

According to the Ukrainian census of 2001, the population of the region is represented by: Ukrainians - 75.0% (693,000); Romanians - 12.5% ​​(115,000); Moldovans - 7.3% (67,000); Russians - 4.1% (38,000); Poles - 0.4% (4,000); Belarusians - 0.2%; Jews - 0.2%; others - 0.4%.

As in all Ukrainian censuses, these figures, to put it mildly, need an explanation. In particular, there are actually few “Ukrainians” here, Rusyns prevail, accounted for by official statistics as Ukrainians. At the same time, Bukovinian Rusyns differ from the Rusyns of Galicia and Transcarpathia.

Areas with a predominance of the Ruthenian ("Ukrainian") population occupy the western, northern and northeastern parts of the region. It should be noted that among the Ukrainian population of the Chernivtsi region, there are three rather large self-identifying sub-ethnic groups: the Bukovinian Hutsuls, who live mainly in the western highlands, the Rusnaks or "Bessarabians", who inhabit the northeastern regions of the region, and the Rusyns proper, or Podolians, living in the north -Western part of the region on the plain between the Dniester and Prut rivers. All these sub-ethnic groups differ from each other in their way of life and dialect features. In addition, Ukrainian self-consciousness is not inherent in all Bukovinian Rusyns. Finally, earlier a significant role in the economic life of Bukovina was played by Russian Old Believers, who are called Lipovans here.

The second most populous national group is the Romanians. The third largest ethnic group are Moldovans. The difference between Romanians and Moldavians in the Chernivtsi region is rather arbitrary - Moldavians are those Eastern Romanes who live in the territory that was part of the Moldavian Principality until 1774, before joining Austria, Romanians are those Eastern Romanes who moved here from the territory of the Romanian Transylvania and other Romanian lands. In essence, the Moldovans and Romanians of the Chernivtsi region are one separate ethnic group, different from the Moldovans of Moldova and the Romanians of Romania. At the same time, 10% of Chernivtsi Romanians in 1989 called Ukrainian (that is, local East Slavic) their native language.

The Chernivtsi region stands out against the general Ukrainian background with a relatively low share of the Russian population - less than 5% of the inhabitants identify themselves as Russian. But at the same time, in terms of the number of Russian-speaking residents, Bukovina ranks first among the regions of western Ukraine. In many parliamentary and presidential elections in Ukraine, the Chernivtsi region votes in a very different way than is expected from western Ukraine. The reasons for this paradox lie in the peculiarities of the history of the region.

It is no less significant that of all the religious associations in the region, the most numerous are the communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. Among other religious movements traditional for the Chernivtsi region, one should indicate (in descending order of the number of followers) the Roman Catholic, Ukrainian Greek Catholic, Russian Orthodox Old Believer and Evangelical Lutheran churches, as well as communities of the Jewish cult. In addition, a number of non-traditional Protestant denominations are very numerous in the region, among which Evangelical Christians Baptists, Seventh Day Adventists and Evangelical Christians stand out first of all.

Note. As we see,on this Austrian ethnographic mapcompiled in 1910, no Ukrainians have yet been found in Bukovina. But there were Rusyns. At the same time, the Lipovans appear. Meanwhile, Lipovans are Russian Old Believers.

The Slavs inhabited this region in ancient times. Probably Bukovina was one of the cradles of Eastern Slavs. Antes, white Croats and Tivertsy lived here. Many elements of the everyday culture of the ancient Slavs remained characteristic of the culture of the Bukovinians. On the territory of Northern Bukovina, Slavic settlements of the 6th-7th centuries. found in 40 points, and VIII-IX centuries. - in more than 150 locations.

From the 10th century, Bukovina was part of Kievan Rus. After the collapse of Russia into specific principalities, Bukovina was ruled by the Galician princes. Probably, under Yaroslav Osmomysl (1153-1187), a fortress was built on the Prut River, which later became the city of Chernivtsi. The fortress with a trade and craft settlement was called Chern, or the Black City, apparently because of the black wooden walls. There is also a mention of Chern in the well-known chronicle "List of Russian cities near and far". The ruins of the fortress have survived to our time near the modern village of Lenkovtsy (now in the city of Chernivtsi).

Only from the XIV century the history of Bukovina begins to differ from the history of other Western Russian lands. The foothills of the Carpathians, devastated by the Tatar invasions, begin to be populated by Roman-speaking shepherds of the Vlachs. Gradually, there are more and more of them, and the flat areas between the Dniester and Prut rivers become Wallachian. The mountainous regions of modern Bukovina remain Slavic, but fall under the rule of the Vlachs. In 1340, after the fall of the Galician principality, captured by Poland, the local Rusyns preferred to come under the rule of the Orthodox Vlachs. As a result, Bukovina becomes the center of the Moldavian Principality. Here are the ancient capital of Moldavia, Suceava, the monastery of Putna with the tombs of princes, and the most revered ancient monasteries of Moldavia.

Under the name of Bukovina, this area is mentioned in the agreement of 1482 between the Polish king Vladislav Jagiello and the Hungarian king Sigmund. The origin of the name is clear - beech really grows everywhere in the region.

From the 15th century, Bukovina, along with the whole of Moldova, fell under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Bukovina differed from the rest of the Moldovan territories only in that the Slavic Ruthenian population absolutely prevailed here. Constant wars between the Habsburgs and the Turks ravaged the local lands. By the end of Turkish rule in the third quarter of the 18th century, only 75 thousand inhabitants remained in the whole of Bukovina. In the city of Chernivtsi, the capital of the region, there were about 200 wooden houses, three churches and approximately 1,200 inhabitants.

During the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-74. Bukovina was occupied by the Russian army. However, despite the brilliant victory of Russia in this war, Bukovina went to Austria! This was the price for Austrian neutrality in the war. So Austria, as a result of someone else's victory, annexed a piece of Russian territory.

So, in 1774, Bukovina falls under the rule of the Austrian Empire, and for 144 years remains part of the Habsburg monarchy. And again, its history begins to differ from the history of other Russian lands.

Unlike Galicia, the Bukovinian aristocracy was of Moldavian origin, the church union was not widespread here. The locals called themselves Rusyns and identified themselves with the Russian Orthodox world. That, however, did not prevent them from simultaneously being loyal subjects of the Austrian monarchy.

At the same time, there was no serfdom in Bukovina, although various forms of personal dependence existed until 1918.

Bukovina was a multinational region. In addition to Rusyns and Vlachs, from the era of the Moldavian principality, Jews who were engaged in trade lived here. From the time of the Austrian rule, the Germans began to appear in the region. Already in 1782, the first German settlements appeared here. In the future, the German colonization of Bukovina continued. German as the state language of the Austrian Empire, which was spoken by German colonists, which was more or less learned by Yiddish-speaking Jews and which was taught in schools, and, finally, which was used to fill in official documents, gradually turned into the language of interethnic communication of all Bukovinians. Rusyns from Galicia also settled in the region. At the end of the 18th century, Russian Lipovan Old Believers also arrived in Bukovina.

In general, the urban population of the region was Germanized, the aristocracy also gradually merged into the nobility of the Austrian Empire, receiving the prefix "fon" to their surnames. Russians in the region remained only "pop and serf."

Rusyns zealously professed Orthodoxy, differed in linguistic and cultural differences from the Little Russians of Galicia and Russian Little Russia. Historically, specific features of the Rusyn ethnic character have also developed. A number of researchers of the life and way of life of Bukovinian Rusyns (such as P. Nestorovsky, G. Kupchanko, V. Kelsiev) gave such characteristics to Bukovinian Rusyns of the late 19th century: Bukovinian Rusyns are much more mobile, enterprising and more energetic than Transnistrian ones. This is also noticeable in the activities of the Bukovinians. They, in addition to arable farming, flourished gardening, horticulture, handicrafts, etc. Outdoor work, especially for seasonal work in Russia, was also developed. All this, of course, speaks of the vigor of the Bukovinians. The entrepreneurial spirit of the Bukovinians is not at all contradicted by their character described by scientists as friendly, gentle. Ethnographers emphasized the inherent politeness and modesty of the Rusyns. The family brought up respect and respect for elders, especially for parents. The younger always addressed the elders with "you". Bukovinians are a neat, dapper and smart people. Their taste for elegance is more developed than that of other Rusyns.

Rusyn houses almost always face south. Each house had "squeeze"(zavalinka) and was painted, except for the back side, with white lime. The houses were kept tidy, as they were often smeared inside and out.

The linguistic specificity of the Rusyns was due to the fact that the Rusyns basically avoided the process of linguistic “Ukrainization”. This allowed the Rusyns to preserve more Old Russian language forms than the Ukrainians did. The Rusyn language, of all South Russian dialects, is closer to Great Russian. According to the Soviet historian V. Mavrodin, the devastation and displacement of the population in the south of Kievan Rus led to the disappearance of the ancient local dialect forms of the language, however, they remained for a long time in the north of Russia, as well as in the Carpathian and Transcarpathian regions.

So, in the Carpathian Mountains, including in Bukovina, many features of the culture and language of Kievan Rus have been preserved, just like in the Russian North.

The cessation of constant wars contributed to the prosperity of the region. In 1849, Bukovina received a certain amount of autonomy, becoming the crown province of the empire. Since 1867, Bukovina received the autonomous status of a "duchy" within Austria-Hungary. The duchy had a local parliament (Seim) of 31 deputies. In the all-imperial parliament of Austria-Hungary, Bukovina was represented by 9 deputies. However, among the deputies of the Seim, except for the local Orthodox metropolitan, there were practically no Rusyns. So the majority of Bukovinians did not know what democracy is. The territory of the duchy was 10,441 km2.

However, it cannot be denied that the Austrian era for Bukovina was a time of economic upsurge and cultural development. Significant population growth was an indicator of this. If in 1790 only 80 thousand inhabitants lived in Bukovina, in 1835 - already 230 thousand, in 1851 - 380 thousand. In the second half of the 19th century, population growth continued rapidly. By 1914, about 800 thousand people already lived in Bukovina. As you can see, in less than a century and a half, the population has increased more than 10 times.

According to the Russian encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron of the early 20th century, in 1887, 627,786 people lived in Bukovina (including the current Romanian Southern Bukovina), making up the population of 4 cities, 6 towns and 325 villages. By origin, according to the Austrian census, in Bukovina there were: 42% Rusyns, 12% Jews, 8% Germans, 3.25% Romanians, 3% Poles, 1.7% Hungarians, 0.5% Armenians and 0.3% Czechs. In fact, there were significantly more Rusyns, as evidenced by the registration data of religion. It must be borne in mind that the Orthodox called their faith "Voloshskaya". According to these data, 71% of all inhabitants were Orthodox in Bukovina. Another 3.3% were Greco-Roman Uniates. The Uniates of Bukovina considered themselves Russians. The Uniate Church in Chernivtsi was called "Russian", and was located on Russische Gasse Street. Of the representatives of other faiths were: 11% - Roman Catholics, 2.3% - Evangelicals (Protestants) and 12% - Jews.

An indicator of the prosperity of the region was the growth of the population of the city of Chernivtsi. So, in 1816, the entire population of Chernivtsi was 5,416 people, in 1880 - already 45,600, in 1890 - 54,171. , by 1912 - water supply and sewerage. The city was predominantly German-speaking (German was spoken by the Germans and most of the Jews, as well as by many locals of various backgrounds).

In 1890, according to the Austrian census, in Chernivtsi there was such an ethnic composition of the population by language: German was spoken - 55,162 people (60.7%); in Romanian - 19,918 (21.9%); in Ukrainian (local Rusyn) - 12,984 (14.3%); Poles, Magyars and others who indicated other languages ​​​​as their native ones totaled - 2,781 (3.1%). The city of Chernivtsi has become one of the centers of German, Jewish and Romanian culture. As for the Rusyns, due to their poverty, illiteracy, as well as the split between Muscovites and Ukrainophiles, their cultural achievements are not great. However, the work of Olga Kobylyanskaya and Yuri Fedkovich is also included in the treasury of the cultural achievements of Bukovina.

The process of assimilation of Rusyns by Romanians and, to a lesser extent, Germans, as well as gradual Ukrainization - this also happened in the life of Rusyns in the Austrian period of their history. Romanianization has taken on a large scale. According to the estimates of the Ukrainian scientist G. Piddubny, in 1900-1910, 32 villages from Ruthenian became Romanian. How the process of "Romanianization" of the Rusyns looked like can be traced through the pedigrees of many famous Romanians. Here is, for example, the genealogy of the great Romanian poet (a native of southern Bukovina), Mihail Eminescu (1850-1889). His father, Georgy Yeminovich, was a native of the village of Kalineshty (Kalinovka) near Suceava and outwardly was a typical Rusyn: “he had blue eyes, spoke Rusyn and Russian well.” The poet's mother, named Raresha, was the daughter of Vasily Yurashku (Yurashko), a native of Khotinsky district (Russian Bessarabia), and Paraskiva Dontsu. Paraskiva's father was a Russian Don Cossack Alexei Potlov. And only one of the poet's great-grandmothers may have been Moldovan.

Also of Ruthenian origin was the leader of the Romanian ultra-nationalist organization "Legion of Michael the Archangel" of the 20-30s. Corneliu Zeljko-Codreanu (his ancestors had the surname Zelensky).

But among the leaders of the Ukrainian movement was a local aristocrat, a Romanian nobleman Nikolaus von Vasilko (!), who did not speak Russian, let alone Ukrainian language. As elsewhere in Ukraine, the founders of Ukrainianism were not Ukrainians at all.

Of course, the Austrian power did not at all mean any familiarization of the Bukovinians with some kind of European civilization. The number of illiterates was approximately 90% of all inhabitants of the region. In fairness, it should be noted that illiteracy was often due to the fact that education in Bukovina was in German. At the same time, the Austrian authorities were very afraid of Russian influence, and in every possible way prevented the emergence of schools with the Russian language of instruction. Romanian schools have gained some distribution in the region. In Jewish educational institutions, education was also in German. In 1875 Chernivtsi University was established with three faculties: Orthodox theology, philosophy and law.

The Russian (“Muscovite”) movement developed in Bukovina under difficult conditions. Russian social life in Chernivtsi begins with the foundation in 1869 of the Ruska Besida society, the Ruska Rada political society (1870), and the Soyuz student society (1875).

In opposition to the movement of Muscovites, the Austrian authorities began to encourage Ukrainianism, opening schools with "mova" as one of the teaching languages ​​and newspapers in Kulishovka. The fact that the text of the Ukrainian publications was incomprehensible to the Rusyns did not bother the Austrians. So gradually Bukovina began to become Ukrainized, although this process was not as large-scale as in Galicia. From about 1884, the Bukovinian Rusyn movement took on a Ukrainian character. The Austrian authorities, dissatisfied with the slowness of the Ukrainians, also took purely punitive actions against the Russian movement. So, in May 1910, the governor of Bukovina closed all Russian societies and organizations, including the society of Russian women, which maintained a school of cutting and sewing, which probably posed a threat to the unity of Austria-Hungary. At the same time, the government confiscated all the property of organizations, including the library of the society of Russian (that is, Russian-speaking with Russian self-consciousness) students.

It was much more difficult for the Austrian authorities to develop Ukrainianism in Bukovina than in Galicia, where the Uniate Church was the main stronghold of Ukrainians. Orthodoxy prevailed in Bukovina, and the authorities had to resort to police measures.

At the beginning of the 20th century, graduates of the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Bukovina gave such a written commitment: “I declare that I renounce the Russian people, that from now on I will not call myself Russian, only Ukrainian, and only Ukrainian.” The seminarians who refused to sign this document did not receive a parish. The text of this oath of allegiance to Ukrainians was pronounced in German.

Professor S. Smal-Stotsky, another of the Ukrainian figures of Bukovina, and the only one of them of Ruthenian origin, also gave such a written commitment in German: the Rutenian language is an independent language, and not an dialect of the Russian language. By the way, later Smal-Stotsky fell under the Austrian criminal court for embezzlement of several million crowns from the bank, of which he was the chairman.

Nevertheless, Ukrainians in Bukovina by the beginning of the 20th century could not boast of any achievements, and by 1914 there were only a few dozen people who were “conscious” Ukrainians. As a result of the split of the Rusyn movement into Muscovites and Ukrainophiles, Rusyns, being the ethnic majority in the region, did not have strong positions either in politics, or in the economy, or in culture. The Ruthenian movement as a whole was significantly inferior in organization to the Romanian one. At the same time, there were no Rusyn organizations in the southern part of Bukovina.

There was also a Bukovinian autonomist movement, which aimed to expand the autonomy of Bukovina within the framework of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Most of the autonomists were local Germans and Jews, who were equally afraid of both the Russian and Ukrainian movements. However, the autonomists had some support from Orthodox Rusyns, dissatisfied with the leadership of the Galician Uniates in Ukraine. In general, Bukovinians of any ethnic origin were distinguished by strong local patriotism.

In general, let's note for the sake of justice, interethnic contradictions in Bukovina did not have the nature of a confrontation, there were practically no ethnic conflicts in the region.

Despite the economic recovery, the region still remained quite backward. Lack of land, the aggravation of national and social problems led to a rather significant emigration of Bukovinians, including Rusyns. For 1880-1914 about 225 thousand Rusyns left for the countries of the New World. No less significant was the departure of the Bukovinian Rusyns to the Russian Empire. Especially many Rusyns settled in the Bessarabian province, because, in addition to the proximity of these regions, the everyday culture of the Moldavians and Bessarabian Rusnaks was very similar to Bukovina. The 1897 census counted 16,000 Austrian citizens in the Bessarabian province of Russia alone, excluding those who had accepted Russian citizenship.

During the First World War, Bukovina became a theater of military operations. Russian troops occupied Chernivtsi three times, and rolled back three times.

After the collapse of Austria-Hungary on November 3, 1918, the Bukovinian People's Assembly took place in Chernivtsi. It proclaimed "unification not only with the Bolshevik Ukraine, but also with the Bolshevik Moscow." In November 1918, Romanian troops entered Bukovina. Until 1940, Romania controlled Bukovina.

Under the Romanian rule, the position of Bukovina was incomparably better than, for example, in Bessarabia. The latter was explained by the fact that here, due to the absence of a significant Russian (in the sense of Great Russian) population, the policy of suppressing non-Roman peoples was softer. However, fearing the strengthening of the Russian movement, the Romanian authorities continued the policy of Austria-Hungary to Ukrainize the Ruthenians of Bukovyna. Under the control of the authorities, various Ukrainian organizations arose, newspapers and magazines were published with names such as "Samostiynist" and "Samostiyna Dumka". But even timid encroachments on the creation of Russian organizations were stopped immediately.

Of course, this did not mean the absence of social and national problems. In January 1919, a large peasant uprising broke out in the Khotyn region, which engulfed northern Bessarabia and western Bukovina. After the suppression of the uprising, at least 50 thousand Rusyns fled to the Soviet bank of the Dniester. In November 1919, the 113th Bukovinian Regiment rebelled in Chernivtsi, consisting mainly of Rusyns. Throwing 4 regiments against the rebels, the Romanian command crushed the uprising.

In general, 853 thousand inhabitants lived in Romanian Bukovina in 1930. The composition of the population, according to official Romanian data, was as follows: Ukrainians (Rusyns) - 38%, Romanians - 34%, Jews - 13%, Germans - 8%, Poles - 4%. Also, Hungarians, Russians (Old Believers-Lipovans), Slovaks, Armenians, and Gypsies lived in small numbers. It should be noted that the Romanian authorities, trying to declare Rusyns as Ukrainians, indicated such a “nationality” in the census list - “Ruthenians or Ukrainians”. It is clear that many Rusyns simply could not know the meaning of these terms, and called themselves Romanians, declaring loyalty to the Romanian statehood. In addition, 12,437 people called themselves Hutsuls.

In Chernivtsi in 1930 there were 112 thousand people. Of these, 29% of the inhabitants were Jews, 26% - Romanians, 23% - Germans, Ukrainians (Rusyns) - only 11%. The city continued to be largely German-speaking. The Romanian language and the speech of local Ruthenians nevertheless became more common than in Austrian times.

Bukovina under the Romanian domination as a whole was a poor region. Of the 173 thousand peasant farms in the 30s, 72.5 thousand were landless, and 30 thousand had allotments of no more than half a hectare.

The Romanian authorities proclaimed that the Bukovinian Rusyns were Romanians who had forgotten their native language (although it would be fairer to say that these were Romanians - Slavs who had forgotten their language). Based on this official point of view, since 1926 the teaching of the local version of the Ukrainian language in schools was discontinued. Only Romanian remained the only language of instruction in schools.

In 1940, the northern part of Bukovina went to the Soviet Union, and became the Chernivtsi region of Ukraine. Southern Bukovina remained part of Romania.

In the course of the socialist transformations that began in the Soviet part of Bukovina, large-scale nationalization was carried out, and the elimination of illiteracy began. As in Galicia, paradoxically, the reunification of the East Slavic lands led to the victory of Ukrainization, since the Ruthenians were again declared Ukrainians, a few Russian organizations were closed as "Black Hundreds", and their activists were subjected to repression. In 1940, another event in the ethnic history of Bukovina took place - almost the entire German population left for Germany.

In June-July 1941, the Chernivtsi region was occupied by Romanian troops who fought on the side of Germany against the Soviet Socialist Republic in 1941-44. The occupation regime of the Romanians was not much softer than the German one. The Romanian authorities, despite the official propaganda announcing the "return" of Bukovina to the bosom of Mother Romania, treated all Bukovinians as second-class people. Jews so numerous in the region had a particularly bad time. In addition to the Romanians, they were exterminated by various bandit groups and Ukrainian separatists. Most of the Jews were destroyed, some managed to escape from Bukovina.

It is also impossible to hide the fact that in Bukovina the so-called Ukrainian independentists formed the so-called. "Bukovina Kuren", with a total number of 800 people, became famous, as, indeed, almost all independent formations of the Second World War, for their punitive "exploits". It was the militants of this “kuren” who were engaged in mass executions in Babi Yar near Kiev. And it was the "Bukovina kuren" that destroyed the Belarusian village of Khatyn. But the majority of Bukovinians still did not support the separatists.

During the period of occupation in Bukovina, underground organizations began to emerge, most often spontaneously. Since the summer of 1942, the Soviet headquarters of the partisan movement began to send specially trained paratroopers to the Chernivtsi region in order to organize the partisan movement. Soon, partisan-sabotage groups began to operate in a number of districts of the region. In 1943, partisans of S. A. Kovpak raided Bukovina. In the spring of 1944, the number of partisan groups being abandoned increased significantly. In total, 1,200 residents of the Chernivtsi region took an active part in the Bukovina partisan formations, and 900 residents of the Chernivtsi region took an active part in the underground.

At the end of March 1944, Bukovina was liberated. Approximately 100 thousand Bukovinians were drafted into the Soviet army, 26 thousand of them died or went missing.

Soon after the liberation, UPA groups operated in the Chernivtsi region. Unlike Galicia, there was no mass participation of the local population in the Bandera movement. In total, in 1944-52 in the Chernivtsi region, about 10 thousand people were prosecuted for "gang complicity", of which 2 thousand surrendered, taking advantage of the amnesty. However, the vast majority of the "bandits and gang accomplices" were deserters from the Soviet army, persons who compromised during the period of the Romanian occupation, and criminals.

In 1944, part of the Romanian population fled to Romania, fearing punishment for collaborating with the occupation authorities. Also fled "bourgeois elements" of various origins. In 1946, 33,000 people left Bukovina for Romania. Thus, the ethnic composition of Bukovina has changed a lot - the Germans have almost completely disappeared, the number of Jews has sharply decreased, and the share of Romanians has decreased.

After the war, the Soviet part of Bukovina developed rapidly. Machine-building and chemical enterprises were created. A network of large instrument-making factories was created, science was actively developing. The population of the city of Chernivtsi increased significantly due to the influx of rural population from the region and many regions of Ukraine and the entire USSR. In 1959, 152 thousand inhabitants lived in Chernivtsi, and in 1989 - already 256.6 thousand. The geographical boundaries of Chernivtsi were also expanding. The city was a major railway junction, an international airport functioned.

During the Soviet era, the Ruthenian population of Bukovina was mostly Ukrainianized, more precisely, they got used to associating themselves with Ukrainians. In cities, primarily in Chernivtsi, many Russian-speaking residents of eastern Ukraine and other republics of the USSR settled. As a result, the Russian language has become much more widespread in the region than in other Western Ukrainian regions.

In "independent" Ukraine, the Chernivtsi region is experiencing an economic crisis and depopulation. The death rate exceeds the birth rate, in addition, there is a significant emigration of Bukovinians abroad (in terms of the number of “migrant workers”, the Chernivtsi region turned out to be a champion in Ukraine). As a result, the region's population is declining.

Nevertheless, being geographically considered a part of western Ukraine, the Bukovinians are mentally far from it. Unlike Lviv residents, here they are indifferent to Bandera and the history of his “movement”. True, there is still a monument in Chernivtsi to the “heroes” of the Bukovinian kuren in the form of an angel, spreading its wings wide, ready to cover them with the “heroes” - punishers. But we note that in Chernivtsi, the “Soviet” streets named after Yuri Gagarin and Arkady Gaidar have been preserved. Along with nostalgic memories of the Soviet era, the mentality of the Bukovinians retains ideas about the time of Austria-Hungary as a kind of "golden age". It is no coincidence that in 2008 a monument to the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph was erected in Chernivtsi.

In general, the Ruthenians of Bukovina have not yet become ardent Ukrainians of the Galician type, but at the same time, the movement of the Rusyn revival, which has received significant development in Transcarpathia, did not find a strong response in Bukovina either.

Rusyns of South Bukovina

In 1940, only the northern part of Bukovina was annexed to the USSR. The southern part of the region remained part of Romania. Since that time, the ethnic history of the South Bukovinian Rusyns has sharply differed from those of their fellow tribesmen living a little to the north. The only thing that the Rusyns of Southern Bukovina have in common with the northerners is that they were also subjected to Ukrainization.

The Eastern Slavs are the indigenous inhabitants of the region, and only from the 13th-14th centuries the Wallachian colonization led to the appearance of Romance-speaking Vlachs here. From about 1359, southern Bukovina became the center of the Moldavian principality. Gradually, the Romanization of the Slavs took place, which was favored by a single Orthodox faith and very similar life and culture of the Vlachs and Rusyns. The Romanianization of Southern Bukovina was incomparably more effective than that of Northern Bukovina. Rusyns in the 19th century became a minority in their native land, and in 1900 they accounted for approximately 20% of the population.

During the Austrian census of 1910, 43,000 Rusyns lived in Southern Bukovina, and at the same time, at least 30,000 people living south of Chernivtsi “changed” the definition of their native language from Rusyn to Romanian. Then, for the first time since the census in Bukovina, the number of Ruthenian population decreased by 2.5%. Although part of this reduction fell on the Ruthenians, who more or less knew the Romanian language due to the presence of the Romanian schools, while maintaining the Ruthenian self-consciousness, the processes of assimilation still went far.

From 1918, the Romanianization of the Ruthenian population accelerated significantly. The Ukrainian movement, for all its insignificance, managed to play its vile role by splitting the possibility of any cultural and linguistic resistance. However, the Ukrainian figures who did their job also turned out to be out of work. If in northern Bukovina all this time the Rusyn-Ukrainian linguistic and cultural environment was still preserved, in southern Bukovina there was none of this. The result was a reduction in the number of Rusyns - in 1930, according to the census, there were 35,000 of them.

The events of 1940 and the accession of Northern Bukovina to the USSR took place spontaneously and completely unexpectedly for the population of the region. The Rusyns of Southern Bukovina were finally cut off from the main Slavic massif of the region.

At the same time, the Ruthenian population of Bukovina has never been completely united in ethnic terms, being noticeably divided into Rusyns and Hutsuls proper, retaining significant differences from the rest of the population of the region both in territorial terms and in lifestyle. A significant part of the population of the mountainous part of Bukovina during the Romanian census of 1930 chose the ethnonym "Hutsul", and not "Ukrainian" or "Rusyn". After the territorial division of 1940, a significant part of the Hutsuls, who now make up about a third of the Slavic population of South Bukovina, ended up on the territory of Romania. Contacts between both groups were significantly hampered for various reasons.

True, after the communists came to power in 1944 in Romania, relatively favorable times came for the Rusyns of Southern Bukovina for some time. Ukrainian schools were opened, a teacher training system was created, and so on. This, to a certain extent, contributed to the consolidation of Ukrainian identity among the Rusyns of South Bukovina. The number of residents of the region who indicated the Ukrainian language as their native language reached 7.3%. But under the rule of Ceausescu (1965-89), despite the declaration of the principles of proletarian internationalism, the oppression of national minorities sharply intensifies in Romania. In addition, there was an outflow of the rural population (and the vast majority of Rusyns lived in villages) to cities, almost completely Romanian-speaking. Thus, for a Rusyn who moved from the village to the city, not only the way of life changed, but also the language, and then the ethnic identity.

After the establishment of a democratic regime in Romania in December 1989, the position of the Ruthenians did not improve. In the Romanian parliament, Ukrainians (officially, all the Eastern Slavs of Romania, except for the Old Believers-Lipovans, are considered Ukrainians) have one seat. At the same time, conflicts between those who consider themselves Ukrainians, Rusyns or Hutsuls lead to the fact that there is no organized movement of Rusyns in Southern Bukovina.

South Bukovinian Rusyns, even calling themselves Ukrainians, do not receive any help from Ukraine. However, Ukrainian separatists are only interested in the Canadian Ukrainian diaspora, from which they expect to receive financial and other support, and they consider it ridiculous to help some peasants in the Carpathian Mountains. But since betrayal is the essence of Ukrainianism, what else can we expect?

Currently, there is an intensified Romanianization of Rusyns-“Ukrainians”, which casts doubt on their continued existence in this region. According to the general population census conducted in 1992 in Romania, only about 10 thousand people (1.4%) living in the Suceava county considered themselves Ukrainians. A little more, about 14 thousand (2%), identified the Ukrainian language as their mother tongue. Despite the small numbers, the very discrepancy between Ukrainians in terms of language and ethnicity raises a number of questions.

Today we can talk about the number of Eastern Slavs in Romania at 130-140 thousand people. It is problematic to give an exact figure, not only because of the position of the Romanian authorities, who are trying to overestimate the number of Romanians, but also because of the difficulties with self-identification of the Eastern Slavs themselves. In the large (about 6,000 inhabitants) commune of Darmanesti, which speaks almost entirely Ukrainian, only 250 people identified themselves as Ukrainians. A similar picture developed in other cities and villages of the region.

However, all this does not change the fact of the gradual disappearance of the Russian ethnic element, indigenous to this region, who lived on its lands for more than a millennium and a half.