美国国家公共电台 NPR--Volodymyr vs. Vladimir: How rival statues explain the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Volodymyr vs. Vladimir: How rival statues explain the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Transcript¹

One of Ukraine's most legendary² figures is Volodymyr the Great. He ruled Kyiv from the year 980 to 1015, launching major building projects, pulling together divided tribes and introducing Christianity. Today, he's honored with a soaring statue in Kyiv overlooking the Dnipro River that bisects the city.

Yet Russia also claims him as central to its political and religious history. They know him by the Russian version of his name — Vladimir the Great. Six years ago, Russia built an even larger statue just outside the Kremlin walls.

This isn't just some minor⁴ historical tiff⁵, with Russia trying to outdo Ukraine in monument building. Rather, it speaks to fundamentally different narratives⁷ about the past, and the debate over modern Russian and Ukrainian statehood playing out in the current conflict.

"Ukraine is not just a neighboring country for us," Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised speech on Feb. 21, just three days before Russian troops entered Ukraine. "It is an inalienable part of our own history, culture, and spiritual space."

In Ukraine's capital Kyiv, Volodymyr's statue is short walk from the office of the man who currently leads this country — another guy named Volodymyr — President Zelenskyy.

Both are protected against a potential Russian attack. Volodymyr the president works from a heavily fortified⁸ compound. Volodymyr the statue is draped in green canvas, surrounded by scaffolding that notes he's occupied this commanding spot since 1853.

"It's his city," George Kovalenko, a priest and religious scholar, said of the elder Volodymyr. He spoke⁹ to NPR in the shadow of Volodymyr's statue.

Volodymyr, he said, put Kyiv on the map. In addition to uniting his realm, he opened trade to other parts of Europe and was a skilled diplomat¹⁰. Yet his most enduring legacy¹¹, Kovalenko said, was in the year 988 when "he brought Christianity to Kiev and founded the beginning of this Christian³ state."

He's also a man of many titles. Kovalenko said he had just invoked¹² Volodymyr's name in church, calling him, "Holy, Equal-to-the-Apostles, Grand Prince Volodymyr."

A different narrative⁶ in Russia

In Moscow, the grand prince is known as Vladimir the Great. It was another well-known Vladimir — Russia's President Putin — who played a key role in bringing the monument to the city in 2016.

Speaking at the statue's unveiling ceremony surrounded by Orthodox priests and politicians, Putin said Prince Vladimir's embrace of Christianity had set the course for modern Russia — as power shifted to Moscow over the centuries

"Prince Vladimir went down in history as a unifier¹³ and defender¹⁴ of Russian lands, and a far-sighted politician who created the foundations of a strong, unified¹⁵, centralized state, which eventually united different peoples, languages, cultures and religions into one big family," said Putin.

If those words echo Putin's own messianic vision for modern-day Russia, that's no coincidence, said Sergei Chapnin, a scholar of Orthodox Christian studies who formerly¹⁶ worked in the Moscow Patriarchate.

"Not only Great Prince Vladimir has this name. So you have to figure out, who is the main Vladimir among them?" said Chapnin in an interview with NPR.

Chapnin says the Moscow monument is part of a wider Kremlin effort to redefine modern Russia at the center of Slavic political and spiritual life — an idea Putin has increasingly embraced as he watched Ukraine drift towards the West.

"So he erected¹⁷ this huge monument in center of Moscow trying symbolically¹⁹ to present this idea: that the heritage of Prince Vladimir is somehow transferred from Kyiv to Moscow," said Chapnin.

Ukrainians see an attempt to eliminate their identity

What the Ukrainians see is a Russian attempt to take over their history, just as they say Russia today is trying to take over their country.

Kovalenko, the religious scholar, said Russian leaders dating back to Peter the Great in the early 1700s have been trying to crush the notion of an independent Ukraine.

"It's very important to understand that this is a long-standing history of imperial conquest," he said.

He said Moscow conveniently chooses to ignore key historical facts. When Volodymyr ruled, his territory included parts of modern-day Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. The city of Moscow didn't exist.

On the day Kovalenko spoke with NPR, Kyiv was marking its 1,540th anniversary. Moscow, he noted²⁰ dryly, is less than 900 years old.

A ruler dressed for battle

A millennium²¹ ago, the very Kremlin near where Prince Vladimir now stands was a patch of marsh²².

Indeed, initial plans to place the monument on the high bank of the Moscow river were scuttled²³ amid concerns the soil could give way — sending Vladimir into the waters below.

When the Moscow monument was unveiled in 2016, Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox church, defended building a statue of a man who never lived in the city.

"A monument to a father can be anywhere his children live," said Kirill. "But it's bad when those same children forget that they had one father to begin with."

Indeed, in the Moscow monument, some observers saw hints of growing militarism inside the Kremlin.

Russian historian Nikita Sokolov notes that while both statues show the Grand Prince with a cross, Moscow's Vladimir is dressed for battle and conspicuously²⁴ carries a sword.

"It was an act of symbolic¹⁸ war with Ukraine," Sokolov told NPR. "Unlike his Kyiv counterpart, the Moscow statue is militaristic and imperial."

Volodymyr's living legacy in Kyiv

In Kyiv, George Kovalenko said Russia treats their Vladimir as if he's a character from a fairly tale. But in Ukraine, he added, Volodymyr's legacy is very real.

"People in Moscow see Volodymyr as this mythical²⁵ figure, as this idea that is very far away," he said. "For people who live here in Kyiv, he's not a myth. He was here. He built the buildings that we walked past, that we pray in, and that we see every day."

He said Volodymyr was not a perfect man.

"He was at times a brutal²⁶ ruler, and I have to understand the context in which he lived and ruled," he said. "We can glorify²⁷ him, but at the same time, understand that he was a figure of his time."

He's also, it seems, a figure of these troubled times. One man, two names, dueling²⁸ statues and conflicting narratives that are very much part of today's battle.

Charles Maynes is NPR's Moscow correspondent.

Greg Myre is an NPR national security correspondent currently on assignment in Ukraine. Follow him @gregmyre1.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

3 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

4 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

5 tiff   

n.小争吵，生气

参考例句：

• They patched up their tiff again.他们平息了争执，又和好如初了。
• There was a new tiff between the two girls.那两个女孩之间有一场新的吵嘴。

6 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

7 narratives   

记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分

参考例句：

• Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives, is still a great beginning. 结婚一向是许多小说的终点，然而也是一个伟大的开始。
• This is one of the narratives that children are fond of. 这是孩子们喜欢的故事之一。

8 fortified   

adj. 加强的

参考例句：

• He fortified himself against the cold with a hot drink. 他喝了一杯热饮御寒。
• The enemy drew back into a few fortified points. 敌人收缩到几个据点里。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

11 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

12 invoked   

v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求

参考例句：

• It is unlikely that libel laws will be invoked. 不大可能诉诸诽谤法。
• She had invoked the law in her own defence. 她援引法律为自己辩护。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 unifier   

联合者，统一者，使一致的人（或物）； 通代

参考例句：

• Herb is the unifier of the people. 喷鼻草是人平易近的融合剂。

14 defender   

n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人

参考例句：

• He shouldered off a defender and shot at goal.他用肩膀挡开防守队员，然后射门。
• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。

15 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

16 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

17 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

18 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

19 symbolically   

ad.象征地，象征性地

参考例句：

• By wearing the ring on the third finger of the left hand, a married couple symbolically declares their eternal love for each other. 将婚戒戴在左手的第三只手指上，意味着夫妻双方象征性地宣告他们的爱情天长地久，他们定能白头偕老。
• Symbolically, he coughed to clear his throat. 周经理象征地咳一声无谓的嗽，清清嗓子。

20 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

21 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

22 marsh   

n.沼泽，湿地

参考例句：

• There are a lot of frogs in the marsh.沼泽里有许多青蛙。
• I made my way slowly out of the marsh.我缓慢地走出这片沼泽地。

23 scuttled   

v.使船沉没( scuttle的过去式和过去分词 )；快跑，急走

参考例句：

• She scuttled off when she heard the sound of his voice. 听到他的说话声，她赶紧跑开了。
• The thief scuttled off when he saw the policeman. 小偷看见警察来了便急忙跑掉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 conspicuously   

ad.明显地，惹人注目地

参考例句：

• France remained a conspicuously uneasy country. 法国依然是个明显不太平的国家。
• She figured conspicuously in the public debate on the issue. 她在该问题的公开辩论中很引人注目。

25 mythical   

adj.神话的；虚构的；想像的

参考例句：

• Undeniably,he is a man of mythical status.不可否认，他是一个神话般的人物。
• Their wealth is merely mythical.他们的财富完全是虚构的。

26 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

27 glorify   

vt.颂扬，赞美，使增光，美化

参考例句：

• Politicians have complained that the media glorify drugs.政治家们抱怨媒体美化毒品。
• We are all committed to serving the Lord and glorifying His name in the best way we know.我们全心全意敬奉上帝，竭尽所能颂扬他的美名。

28 dueling   

n. 决斗, 抗争(=duelling) 动词duel的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• More light-hearted But somewhat puzzled, Vladimir prepared to meet Eugene on the dueling ground. 弗拉基米尔心里轻松了一些，但仍感到有些困惑，在这种心情下，他准备去决斗场地迎战叶甫盖尼。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学
• They had been dueling for hours and finally called a draw. 他们一直决斗了数小时，最后打成平局。