I just wonder how many guys hates Russia and gets out of their pants to say something strange about her or her leaders
A fair few, actually. No less then the number of Jews that would start screaming and
ing if someone turned round and denied Holocaust and questioned the very existence of their nation.
See, unlike pretty much every other state that had an empire and/or a dictatorship and brought suffering to others, Russia has never apologised nor took responsibility for physical and cultural genocide. On the contrary - it's consistently denying these things took place, and just would not let go of someone else's history, inevitably neglecting their own.
Your original discussion on whose heritage Kyiv Rus' is can be easily resolved - there are graffiti writings on the walls of Sophia Kyivska - almost 1000 years old, left by the inhabitants of Kyiv Rus. Lingustic analysis proves that the closest modern match is Ukrainian language. Belarus and Ukraine are direct successors to the medieval state, and Russia (Moscowia) woudl not appear for another 200 years.
Original Moscowia had very faint Slavic make-up, and was mostly of Hungro-Finnic ethnicity (later diluted by Mongolian and Central Asian blood). Slavic appearance of modern Russians is the result of many centuries of forced dislocation of Ukrainians and Belarussians into Moscowian territories.
Also, pick up some Western-European medieval maps and see which territories are referred to as Rus' and Scythia (or Sarmatia), and what label does European part of Russia bear.
Everything explained above has some serious academic research behind it, it's just a shame it contradicts Kremlin's pan-Slavic and pan-Orthodox versions of history, necessary for justifying their expansionist policies.
Oh and if you did mention the Russian Orthodox Church, you should also mention that that church was not formed in a canonical way and had always been (and to this day is) a political propaganda tool.
So once Civ5 is out, I'm going to make a PROPER Ukraine mod, starting with Cucuteni-Trypillian culture about 5000 BC, through to Sarmatians, Alans, Skythia, Rus', Poland-Lithuania, Cossack era, 1917-1920s war for independence, UPA insurgency during WW2, through to independence.
