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“Idea of Slavdom is not so popular in Czech now, as it was earlier”
Radovan Vaner, Director of the Czech Center in Kyiv  The integration into the EU brought down barriers between the Slavic states as well. Now on the border, for example, between Czechia and Slovakia, Czechia and Poland many interesting cultural events take place. The relations among these countries are very active, because Slavs understand each other better.
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“There are no grounds speaking about specificity of economic relations among Slavic countries”
Victor Petrovych Yanovsky, First Vice-President of the Chamber of Commerce Ukraine  Businesspersons in the world have many universal problems to deal with. If there are problems with customs duties, peculiarities of national taxation, some other trifles, German, Japanese, and Slavic businessperson can come to an understanding.
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Slavic attributes cannot encompass identity problem
Borys Parakhonsky, PhD, Head of the Department, Institute of the problems of international security, NSDC. Politically the ideology of Slavdom is rather a myth. Western Slavs do not use it because there is no pragmaticality in it. Moreover, no European state will back the priority of Slavic nation as it is undemocratic in multinational Europe.
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Spirit of Slavdom
Vasyl Makhno, poet, the U.S.A.  Slavic unity, or its model, can be considered only from the point of view of cultural collaboration; however, they should manage going too far, and Slavic histrionics.
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“We, Slovenians, always believed that we belonged to the family of Slavs”
Primozh Sheligo, Ambassador of Slovenia in Ukraine  A wonderful historical event took place after several Slavic nations had joined the EU. For the first time in history a group of Slavic nations entered the EU, which had been previously dominated by Germanic and Romance nations. For the first time in history of Europe we, Slavs, have equal rights to decide on common values and common purposes.
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Slavic factor, Belarus style
Igor Lialkov, Chairman of Belarus Schumann Society, Chairman of the Editorial Board of the EuraBelarus Magazine  Over 60% young population of Belarus are for the European Union; it means that for a considerable part of the future population there are simply no such problems as either Slavic values or post-soviet unity.
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Slavic unity is possible only within a European context
Emilia Chengelova, sociologist, research worker of the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of Bulgaria, Sophia  There are inherent common problems in Slavic countries; but they have nothing to do with Slavic roots or Slavic origin. They proceed from the likely processes of political and economical transformations.
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Global prospects are more attractive, than Slavic ones
Arkadiush Sarna, expert of the Center for Oriental Studies, Warsaw Not only for Slavic peoples but for Europe as a whole Ukraine may become a testing area for implementation of changes, including Russia. That is, Ukraine is unable to embody the idea of Slavdom, which is now understood only as a Russian idea; however, it can be useful to bring changes into Russia.
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Pendulum will swing forth to Ukraine
Yan Kochi, Director of the office of the Schindler Ukraine Co The term of the middle Europe will spread eastward. There may be changes in the nearest decade. A Slavic component is a probability. But one should account for Baltic population and Hungarians as the closest allies in Central Europe, not only Slavs.
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Ukraine may become the center of influence. But only as a remote relevance
Serhiy Borysovych Krymskiy, philosopher It is not a Slavic idea which is important, but its background; what and not how really matters. The Ukrainian policy of the 18th c. was based on the supposition that Ukraine, and not Russia, is the center of Slavdom. There was an idea to create the all-Slavic state in the form of the union of states with its center in Kyiv. It is important that Russia was considered as a state and this was not an imperial but democratic project.
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Myth about the third way of a “Slavic idea”
Leonid Zashkilniac, Head of the Department of history of Slavic countries of the Ivan Franko Lviv National University, Doctor of History, Prof. Actually, there is no such thing as “Slavic world”; ethnical, cultural and religious characteristics, and civilization of modern Slavs are rather differed. Presently they need civilized, equal and respectful relations with all nations, especially with their neighbors.
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Fear of westernization
Mileta Prodanovich, artist, Serbia One of the foremost problems of Slavic nations is their resistance to the ideas of modernization. Unlike those countries which have already found their way to the European house, many Slavic countries play with the idea that we do not need modern civilization, that the West is hostile to the entire East European countries, that westernization would somehow impair our souls.
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Oligarchy and avidity should not be masked by Slavdom
Vladimir Bogdanov, sociologist, RF Slavic ethnos have not come to know itself in economic relations yet. Slavs are good in many spheres, but not in an economy. Here we lag behind. If we had hit the road of evolutional capitalism, the Slavdom issue would have looked differently now.
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‘The ‘sameness’ of the problems stemming up from the post-communist past should not be over-estimated’
Nicola Jordanovski, professor of history, Macedonia Any efforts of creating, or rather imagining an alternative ‘Slavic Europe’ are diminished by the fact that Slavs are already divided into EU Slavs and Slavs outside EU, and even those outside are divided into those who hope once to be part of the elite club and those who renounce the idea
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Oligarchy and avidity should not be shielded with Slavic ideas
Volodymyr Bogdanov, sociologist, RF Slavic ethnos have not found itself in economic relations yet. Slavs are good in many spheres, but economy. We are at the tail-end here. If we had chosen the way of evolutional capitalism, the Slavic problem would have been tackled differently.
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Slavs are not an ethnic, but linguistic union
Valery Yaroviy, Doctor of History, Prof.  There is no such cultural-linguistic and even spiritual entity as Slavs. Today Slavs number approximately 280-300 million which inhabit a considerable territory.
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We are equally similar and different
Nicola Yordanovic, Doctor of History, Macedonia  Any attempt to create, or even present, an alternative “Slavic Europe” is discredited by the fact that Slavs are already divided into “Slavs inside Europe” and “Slavs outside Europe”. Those outside Europe are further subdivided into those, who has hope to join this “elite club” and those who renounces this very idea.
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“Contemporary Slavs have only one thing in common: they more or less can come to an understanding”
Natalia Yakovenko, Doctor of History, Prof.  With the exception of luckier Czechs and Slovenes, Slavs are outsiders in Europe; if some of them happened to be invited to the European House it does not mean, that they will be highly thought of.
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The combination of words “to be a European” has a political connotation for Slovaks, while “be a Slav” has an ethnic meaning
Olexandr Duleba, Director of the Research center of the Association of foreign policy of Slovakia Slavic peoples may be considered as an ethnic community on the basis of general ethnic and linguistic descriptions, some similar traditions etc, but it has no political meaning whatsoever.
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