Kremlin spokesmen caused hysteria over VLKK speeches

The State Lithuanian Language Commission (VLLK) has confirmed that Sakartvel is becoming the official name of the state, and Georgia remains the traditional name of the country. At that time, following the meeting between Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis and Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlan Cichanouskaya, the idea of ​​revising the Lithuanian name of Belarus was changed, replacing it with a name closer to Belarus.

Although these events are not interrelated, they have received the attention of the Russian media. And not just attention: Kremlin spokesmen, who accepted the hostile idea, resorted to strange and irrational interpretations, which is proof of Lithuanian Russophobia.

Based on potato’s request

The authors of the Baltnews.ru portal, dedicated to the Russian-speaking audience in the Baltic countries, addressed the issue of Sakartvel’s name by talking to Armen Gasparian, who introduces himself as a journalist and political scientist. One of the propaganda films, in which the latter also appeared, was unmasked in Delfi’s “Deconstructions” with Edmundas Jakilaitis.

According to A. Gaspariano, the decision to establish the Sacartwell name has no rational arguments. He ironizes that in his youth there were people who called Sakartvela “Vazisubani”, thus referring to the wine produced in this country.

It is said that that name could be an idea of ​​how Sakartvelas should be renamed Latvia. He also claimed that the change of the country’s name and symbols was a personal whim of former Sakartvel president Mikheil Saakashvili, and did not forget to add that such a decision by Lithuania once again shows his Russophobia. The reproach flag and the Sakartwell flag.

According to the State Lithuanian Language Commission, Lithuania is not the first country to consider and change the name of this country.

“The name Georgia, used in many countries, is associated with the patron saint. On behalf of George. Others use the name Georgia, which is common in Russian, is unpopular with the population of the country, and the Georgian noun, which is said to have a negative derogatory connotation, is said to have a negative connotation. Therefore, the country has been seeking changes in the languages ​​in which Georgian names are established for some time. The Georgia variant was approved in Estonian, Finnish and Hungarian, ”said VLKK.

In the past, Lithuanian officials and diplomats have repeatedly asked Lithuanian officials to renounce the name “Georgia”. According to them, the name is Russian. The bottom line of the country has not changed even after the resignation of Mikhail Saakashvili in 2013. Looking at the ongoing discussions in foreign countries and the actual changes on this issue, it is obvious that the Lithuanian decisions are considered irrational and the accusations of Russophobia they are completely unfounded.

Although the word Sakartvelas appeared in official use alongside the name of Georgia only in 2018, discussions about the possible Lithuanian name of this country have been going on for a long time. As early as 2010, a proposal to change the official name from Georgia to Georgia was considered. The latest proposal was considered by the State Lithuanian Language Commission (VLKK) at the request of the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This time, such an offer was rejected.

Finally, in 2018, in addition to Georgia’s official name, Lithuania legalized the authentic term – Sakartvelas. It was decided that Georgia would remain the principal and official name of the country, and the term Sacartwell was legalized as suitable for public use. In Tbilisi, this Lithuanian gesture received a friendly response, and Lithuania was supplemented by the word Lithuania.

2020 December 21 published as the official name of the state, Sakartwell, Georgia is still the traditional name. Despite the name of the nation itself as pope, official requests from Tbilisi itself and its representatives emphasized that Sacartwell (a country of all popes) is a more acceptable term that does not discriminate against any of the many nations living in the country.
“Georgia is still a usable name, it can be used in public space,” said VLKK President Audrys Antanaitis.

The current flag of the country, contrary to what the Kremlin spokesman affirmed, is not the result of Saakashvili’s personal whim either. The original flag is believed to have originated as early as the Middle Ages and became more relevant before the Rose Revolution began, with Mikhail Saakashvili as one of its leaders. It is true that Saakashvili himself contributed to the official approval of the flag, but changing the flag was far from his personal wish.

As early as 1999, Georgian lawmakers approved it becoming a state flag, but the country’s president, Eduard Shevardnadze, opposed it. A little later, the flag became a popular symbol of opposition to the government of E. Shevardnadze and was officially approved in 2004.

Belarus or Belarus?

Sakartvel’s name change also drew attention to the name of Lithuania’s neighbor. After the meeting between the Lithuanian Foreign Minister and the leader of the Belarusian democratic opposition, Sviatlan Cichanouskaya, the idea came up to clarify the Lithuanian name of Belarus.

In his letter, S. Cichanouskaja asked the Minister to change the Lithuanian name of Belarus to a form closer to the country, saying that such a decision by Lithuania would express respect for the sovereignty of the neighboring state and “support the linguistic and cultural identity of the Belarusian people. “.

“Belarus means ‘White Russia’, not Russia. The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry will approach the Lithuanian State Language Commission with a request to evaluate the proposal and initiate the procedure to clarify the name,” said the Foreign Minister. Foreign Affairs, Gabrielius Landsbergis The ministry’s report also emphasizes that proposals on how the name of Belarus could be clarified must be evaluated by linguists.

Maxim Milta, an associate analyst at the Center for Eastern European Studies interviewed by Delphi, said the issue was important to Belarusians.

“The most sensitive moment for Belarusians is that the Kremlin has so far used the term Belarus very consistently. Telling Belarus that their country is Belarus is the same as telling a Lithuanian that their country is not Lithuania, but the LSSR. “There is a fairly universal agreement that the country’s name in Belarusian and Russian is Belarus, and therefore one should seek to call Belarus as close to this sound as possible in other countries as well,” Milta said.

The expert noted that Belarusian communities based in Western countries had previously requested to change the name of the country and bring the name of the country closer to the original name of Belarus from the compounds that mean the words “White and Russia.”

Recently, the country’s latest name has been successfully established in Sweden, and similar discussions are still taking place in Germany and Belgium.

“In the interwar period, when we had a separate ministry for Belarusians, it was called the Ministry of White Judicial Affairs. There is the term Gudija, which has negative connotations in the general public, but I know even white people living in Vilnius who are constantly in favor of this term.

In my opinion, if we look at the structure, then the use of the word Belarus is an overture to Kiev Rus, not Russia. The same Russia, whose representatives in the Middle Ages were part of the Russian part of Vilnius, along with the Latin. If we consider what Professor Rimvydas Petrauskas suggested, Belarus could become that compromise option, ”added Maxim Milta.

According to the expert, it is important that Belarusians raise the question of the name of their country, but it is very important that Lithuanians themselves understand the essence of this question: it is not a distant country or nation, but a state with which we have a long relationship and close.

Therefore, even this gesture, although symbolic, must be well considered. Poland and Ukraine name Belarus in terms close to the word Belarus, in contrast to the Baltic countries. The discussions that have taken place in Lithuania could also become a good start for the discussions on the name of Belarus in the neighboring Baltic countries.

Admittedly, this neighboring country name issue doesn’t seem to be solved in VLKK cabinets, at least for now. According to the president of the VLKK, Audrius Antanaitis, we must wait for the situation in Belarus to calm down, and the very question of changing the name of the country is complicated.

“There would be a lot of questions, first of all, and because Ukraine is Red Russia, Russia is Black Russia. So the answer is why we only changed one name.

And yet the names of the states are not a political currency. “It is possible that after the fall of this Lukashenko bandit, Belarus will ask us to change his name, as Sakartvel did,” justified the head of the VLKK.