Maria Danilova

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) - Russia and Ukraine have quarreled over a lot of things in recent years, from politics and energy to language and religion.

Now they are again at odds -- this time over history.

Saturday marks the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava, a victory for Czar Peter the Great that symbolized the rise of the Russian empire and crushed Ukraine's hopes for independence for most of the next three centuries.

Both Russia and Ukraine are marking the anniversary, but their views of its significance are diametrically opposed.
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Russia's Foreign Ministry last month warned Ukraine against glorifying Mazepa.

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President Viktor Yushchenko says that Ukraine has the right to name and honor its own heroes.

"They tell us that that we have a joint history (with Russia), but no, each has its own history," Yushchenko told foreign reporters earlier this month.

Russia paints Mazepa as a scheming opportunist who betrayed his overlord, Peter the Great, to fight alongside the Swedes. Ukrainian authorities plan to erect monuments to Mazepa in Poltava and Kyiv and his stern face with its thick black mustache adorns the 10 hryvna bill.

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Ukrainian historians and officials say Mazepa's rebellion represented Ukraine's historic yearning for independence.

Yuriy Mytsyk, a historian with the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, calls Mazepa a hero, comparing him to the first U.S. President George Washington, who fought Britain's King George III for America's independence.

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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recently established a history commission aimed at countering what he calls efforts by Ukraine and other foreign nations to falsify Russian history.
Russia has angrily rejected Ukraine's claims that a Soviet-era famine, which killed millions, was an act of genocide, saying others ethnic groups also suffered. Moscow also protests the honoring of Ukrainian insurgents who briefly sided with the Nazis during World War II and then fought against both Hitler's forces and the Red Army.

Complete article: http://www.kyivpost.com/nation/44108