If I had a rand every time I’ve heard about “great Russian culture”, I’d be a billionaire. Though, unsurprisingly, if you spend just a bit of time researching the subject, you’ll see that there’s not always much Russian about it. 

If you take a virtual tour of any Russian museum or any exhibition in the world labelled as “Russian”, you are in for a world of surprises! Start with their pride and joy: the Tretyakov Gallery. I promise you, it will be easy to find many actual non-Russians amongst the “Pearls of great Russian culture”. 

As we are nearing the year mark of this war, it’s becoming abundantly clear that one of the reasons Vladimir Putin started this war is to have the right to claim our history, our great thinkers and scientists, our culture and heritage. If we are all gone, there’s no one to object. 

But I can state, without a hint of a doubt: that is never going to happen. It is now as impossible as “a prosperous, dignified and humane Russia” or “taking Kyiv in three days”. 

We still have a long, hard way till our victory, but we have already won. The shift has already happened. The world has finally opened its eyes and is ready to stand with us on the right side of history.

To quote one of the most famous “Russian” writers (he’s not Russian whatsoever as he was born in Kyiv) Mikhail Bulgakov from his The Master and Margarita: “Annushka has already bought the sunflower oil, and has not only bought it, but has already spilled it.” Meaning the faith is sealed, the wheels are turning and no wannabe dictator and his hoard of terrorists are going to steal from us any more.

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Ukrainian historian Oksana Semenik recently noted this long-awaited change: “Arkhip Kuindzhi, a Ukrainian artist born in Mariupol, is FINALLY recognised as a Ukrainian artist by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The museum has also removed the shameful reference to the artist celebrating both in Russia and Ukraine.” 

Semenik also noted that “representatives of various nationalities entered the St Petersburg Academy of Arts, but only Russians graduated.” 

Now, isn’t that a dream? A Ukrainian called a Ukrainian! A Ukrainian who actually purposely identified himself as a Ukrainian during his lifetime finally gets a note in a museum that is supposed to be facts-based that he is actually a Ukrainian painter… What a wild and unbelievable concept for a museum.

Please do pardon my sarcasm, but, honestly, it is heartbreaking that it took a genocidal war for us to be seen. It is heartbreaking that so many of our best people gave their lives for the world to stop spreading Russian made-up history. 

Kuindzhi wasn’t our only win this week. The Met is now also correctly labelling the paintings of two more Ukrainian artists: Ivan Aivazovsky and Ilya Repin. Mind you, much of the “great Russian visual arts” is based on these two clearly-not-Russian painters. 

The Met has also finally changed the name of Edgar Degas’ painting Russian Dancers to Dancers in Ukrainian Dress. And please note the level of absurdity: Degas painted a dancer in a Ukrainian national attire. Absolutely nothing in that painting points to anything even remotely Russian. 

I am extremely grateful for my colleague Sergíy Kyslytsya, the permanent representative of Ukraine to the UN, for tirelessly fighting our fight on multiple fronts, including cultural, and pointing out these falsehoods to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

And, mind you, this is just a drop in the ocean. Our historians, diplomats, artists and all of those unwilling to just let all of this madness go on are meeting, writing and petitioning museum coordinators, demanding that our culture is returned. Many of the “Russian exhibits” aren’t Russian and should not be labelled as such.

I do hope that all of this sets a precedent and the rest will follow. If not, trust me, we’ll be knocking on every door until we get ours back. Enough is enough. No terrorist, murderer or paedophile is going to steal our culture. Everyone is coming back home. 

I encourage you to read this great op-ed on decolonisation in museums by Lisa Korneichuk, in which she says: 

 “When imperial powers destroy a museum or steal its collection, they strip the opponent side of its material culture and, therefore, of any hard evidence for the legitimacy of its existence. By targeting Ukrainian cultural heritage, Russia obliterates the material representation of Ukrainian identity. And by stealing heritage and appropriating names, Russia denies the oppressed nations any right to independence and self-identification.” DM