PhosphorusDecree wrote:
Both northern Ukraine and Belarus were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for centuries, as "Red Ruthenia" and "White Ruthenia" respectively. The Grand Duchy was famous for its religeous tolerance, and had a huge Jewish population. When Russia seized those lands in the late 18th century, they aggressively erased their history, declaring that Belarus and Ukraine had always been part of Russia, and that there was absolutely no difference between Ruthenians and Russians. The region was used as a dumping ground for Jews from the rest of Russia: the "pale of settlement" beyond which they had no right of residency. There, they became prime targets for pogroms, and later for the invading Nazis.
Ok that makes sense, The Russians claiming a historical/ethnic/religious claim to the lands.