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I hope that the cause of the Rusyn people and their right to their own language, identity, and homeland is not swept under the rug by pro-Western pro-Ukrainian euphoria over the toppling of the Ukrainian 'president' or dictator if you prefer.
You may not know who the Rusyn people are. In the USA the Byzantine Catholic Church is Rusyn (Ruthenian). Many of the Orthodox Church of America are also of ethnic Rusyn background.
The Ukrainian government since independence from the Soviet Union has treated the Rusyn people very poorly claiming that Rusyn is a dead language of a small ethnographic group of no significance. That the Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, and Romanians all recognise the Rusyns as a legitimate ethnic minority has had no impact at all upon the Ukrainian governments -- regardless of whether or not they leaned West or East.
There is a great deal of talk about the territorial integrity of the Ukraine, but Ukraine's national boundaries are the work of the Soviet Empire. And it seems likely that Ukraine will be partitioned into several different nations if a workable solution cannot be found.
I propose a model based on the Swiss Confoederation. We could call it the Confederation of the Ukraine. A canton of Sub-Carpathian Rus would be self-governing and part of the larger confederation. This would be the same as a canton of Crimea with the reorganisation of administrative districts into cantons of co-equal authority.
A canton of Lviv could be as ferociously pro-ethnic Ukrainian and Greek Catholic as it would want, and a canton of Crimea could be as ferociously pro-ethnic Russian and Russian Orthodox as it cared to be, and they could all be conjoined in a Confoederation of mutuality and co-equal benefit just as the Swiss have so wisely designed and developed over time.
The following is a story broadcast on RT (Russia Today) regarding the Rusyns. RT has a bias against the nationalist ethnic Ukrainians, so one should bear that in mind. Nonetheless, they prove an extraordinary ally for Ruthenians (Rusyns) in their quest to have their own homeland or at the least the recognition they deserve by the government of Ukraine. I pray you will take time to view the following report:
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