hatred is russian culture.

And Ukraine is breaking free from it.

"Tryouts" is an art installation by Ukrainian artist Anton Shebetko of large-format photographs depicting homoerotic Soviet-era propagandist monuments that were either destroyed during the decolonisation process or are now inaccessible. Each photograph is partially obscured by OSB panels with cutouts inspired by the works of Kazymyr Malevych—an artist whose legacy has been successfully reappropriated into the national narrative of Ukraine. These cutouts highlight the homoerotic elements of the sculptures while rendering their Soviet propaganda aspects invisible to the viewer. By reframing these monuments through a queer lens, Tryouts challenges dominant historical narratives and explores the potential for alternative perspectives in the reading of history.

here is what's in store for you this week:

(estimated reading time: 8 min)

This week’s story:

• The harshest homophobic slur in my language isn't indigenous. It's an imperial prison-camp export russia still ships as "traditional values" — to prepare the ground before the imperial troops arrive.

And in this week’s reading list:

• An empire drained an entire sea to grow "white gold" — then wrote cotton into Uzbek schoolbooks, art and memory so the people would mourn the water without naming who took it.

• A man couldn't order coffee in Qazaq in his own capital, posted about it, and lit a national reckoning — proof that decolonisation in Qazaqstan runs not through laws but through the resistance of ordinary people.

• Soviet "indigenisation" of Crimea-Qirim looked like empowerment and worked like a census — Moscow counted the natives' strength precisely so it could erase their existence later.

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This weekend, Ukraine did something remarkable. While air defences were shooting down russian suicide drones over Kyiv, thousands still marched defiantly for equality — the largest civil‑rights demonstration since the full‑scale invasion began. Queer soldiers and veterans led Kyiv Pride, carrying the names and faces of Ukrainian heroes killed fighting a homophobic empire. Similar marches had already taken place in Lviv, Kharkiv, and Odesa.

What also struck me was how both Ukrainian fringe groups and russians online reached for the same slurs. I’ve known this since childhood: if you want to truly insult someone, you switch to russian — especially for homophobic slurs. Ukrainian speakers do it too. Even as the language of colonial occupation fades in Ukraine, its ugliest vocabulary still does the work.

The Ukrainian language has no shortage of swearing. It can be filthy and wildly inventive, with old traditions in doing so. But our curses never run on sexual abuse, and they don’t run on hating queerness. For that, you borrow.

It never once crossed my mind to ask why. The most violent thing I could say to someone came pre‑installed in another language. Someone else engineered it that way — and not just for Ukrainians.

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Russian Colonialism 101 is the first newsletter to shed light on Russian colonialism and is part of the Volya Hub network. What is happening to Ukraine has happened many times before, and the rest of the world has been conditioned to overlook or misdiagnose it. This isn’t history. It’s how you stop being shocked by what was always predictable.

“I want to support Ukraine in its historic fight for freedom and independence from Russian imperial domination.”

by William E Brennan, a paying supporter of Russian Colonialism 101.

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