"Why do we need such a world if Russia is not there?" - this phrase of Vladimir Putin caused a storm of emotions of a wide spectrum - from delight to hatred.
Leaders of many countries once asked the same question. The answer some of them have come up with is paradoxical. They considered an ideal world where their homeland would become part of Russia.
At least ten large territories are known that at different times wanted to join our country - it doesn't matter if it is called the Russian Empire or the USSR. Almost all of them sought our friendship and patronage, and some even managed to formally visit a member of our family of nations.
Bulgaria is a good country
- Comrade Zhivkov, why do you need an umbrella? It's hot outside!
- But Moscow promises rains …
Promotional video:
The anecdote about the leader of socialist Bulgaria Todor Zhivkov, who sleeps and sees his country as part of the USSR, is not such a joke. At the plenum of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party in 1963, Comrade Zhivkov said: "We will merge with the USSR not for the time being, but forever, and this will become an example for all countries." A letter was sent to the Central Committee of the CPSU with a request to admit Bulgaria to the USSR as the sixteenth union republic. In February 1964, Zhivkov came to Moscow and, during a meeting with Soviet leaders, raised this issue. But I got not just a turn from the gate, but also a couple of ridicule. Thus, he said that unification with the USSR could give rise to hopes in Bulgaria for improving living standards. But if they do not improve, then there will be disappointment and even a surge of anti-Soviet sentiments. Until the unification took place,asked to give Bulgaria a loan of 400 million rubles. As a result, when Khrushchev, referring to Zhivkov, mechanically called him “dear Todor,” the malicious Anastas Mikoyan corrected Nikita Sergeevich: “Not just expensive, but very expensive! You can say - golden! ".
General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev meets the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Bulgaria Todor Zhivkov at the Kiev railway station, who arrived at the XXVIII Congress of the CPSU. 1966 Photo: RIA Novosti / V. Kozlov.
Russian Papuan
“The natives of New Guinea want political independence under Russian patronage,” wrote the Russian traveler and ethnographer Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay in 1883. And he did not cheat at all. He was the first European to set foot on the northern and northeastern shores of New Guinea, the second largest island on our planet. It happened in 1871. For many years Miklouho-Maclay lived among the Papuans and managed to present himself in such a way that they considered him almost a messenger of heaven. And at the same time they believed that they could become a civilized people only under the Russian hand. There were all the prerequisites for this. Until now, many household items and cultivated plants in Papua New Guinea bear Russian names. True, a little distorted, but it is still clear that “arbus” is a watermelon, “thapor” is an ax, “googruz” is corn.
The Germans tried to intercept the initiative from the Russian scientist. So, Otto Finsch pretended to be the brother of Miklouho-Maclay and seized huge land plots for this business. In 1885, a German ship approached the Maclay Coast, and an official who descended to the ground raised a German flag there, declaring the territory the possession of the Reich. Miklouho-Maclay writes a desperate letter to Emperor Alexander III: “Your Imperial Majesty! The natives reject the German annexation. I humbly ask you to grant Russian patronage to the natives of the Maclay Coast. " And he gets the answer: "Because of the remoteness of the land and Russia's lack of interests there, refuse."
Reproduction of the painting "Miklouho-Maclay among the Papuans" by artist L. Uspensky. Photo: RIA Novosti.
Target - Madagascar
At the end of the 17th century. Madagascar was considered the most dangerous place - it was owned by pirates led by Caspar Wilhelm Morgan. They robbed the ships of all powers that had interests in India, the way to which lay just through this island. It got to the point that Holland, France and Great Britain, challenging each other's colonies, decided to unite and burn this pirate's nest.
Kaspar Morgan decided to ask for protection from those powers whose ships he had not yet robbed. There were two of them - Sweden and Russia. Which just at the beginning of the 18th century were sorting out the relationship with each other. At first he made a bet on Sweden, and a delegation was sent to Charles XII asking for patronage. But after Poltava, it became clear that Russia was winning. And therefore the nimble pirate, who calls himself the king of Madagascar, tried his luck with Peter I. Here is what the king-carpenter replied to him: “If the king of Madagascar has a tendency from which power to seek patronage, we wish from our hearts that we would have it in our patronage to accept. We firmly promise that we will defend him from all his enemies, the king, and his people, no matter what …”At the beginning of 1724, ships were already equipped for dispatch to Madagascar. Peter I rushed things and expressed dissatisfaction:"The monarch was extremely distressed by the stop in the departure of Vice Admiral Wilster on the Madagascar expedition." They swayed for a long time - 5 frigates were ready to sail only in January 1725. But Peter died, and the project was abandoned.
Konstantin Kudryashov
