I distinctly remember how, after the first Maidan, the Ukrainian theme became the top in the Russian media, writes Pavel Kazarin in a column on "Crimea. Realities ".

Ukrainian tapes of Russian news agencies beat records on views. At that time in Moscow there was a feeling that the former Soviet republic was "floating away". Becomes independent. Begins to live his own agenda, in which for Russia there are fewer and fewer places.

And so the demand for the Ukrainian topic was extremely high. Someone was looking for in these news an occasion for schadenfreude. Someone - a recipe for escape from the post-Soviet swamp. But, regardless of the motives, Ukrainian events forced the Russian audience to read and comment.

Everything changed after the victory of Viktor Yanukovych. The fourth Ukrainian president differed little from Russian politicians. He was so clear and uncomplicated that the Ukrainian future in his cadence was not even in doubt.

If before there was a feeling that Ukraine was moving in somehow its own way, then after its inauguration, it seemed that Kiev was again in Moscow's wake. Copying its practices in all spheres of public life.

Viktor Yanukovich lived according to the covenants of Pope Leo X - "God gave us the papacy, so let us enjoy it". In addition, the entire state ethical and aesthetic contour was for him only a resource for trade. Which he successfully exchanged for Russian money. And when it came to the question of discounts on gas - he sacrificed himself and the state contour, prolonging the terms of the Black Sea Fleet's base in Sevastopol.

As a result, interest in Ukrainian news in Russia began to fall. News from the Caucasus began to come in first place. In the pre-war years, the entire Russian discussion was a dispute over illegal migration. On the visa regime with the countries of Central Asia. On the "untouchable" Chechen diasporas.

The main themes were clashes on ethnic grounds. Radical processions on November 4. Trendsetter was "Sputnik and pogrom". The Ukrainian theme was on the margins of the Russian agenda. She simply did not care about anyone - because of her predictability.

Everything has changed in the winter of 2013.

In the summer of that year, sociologists wrote about two-thirds of Ukrainians who did not want to go to protest rallies. They were mistaken.

Viktor Yanukovych managed to unite Ukraine - against himself. And because the streets were people of different ages, professions and geography. And this passionary explosion again became a surprise for all. Including Russia.

The Ukrainian theme once again became the main one in the Russian media. And it did not cease to be her. Maidan. The annexation of the Crimea. Invasion of the Donbass. Boeing. Sanctions. Ilovaysk and Debaltsevo. All the following months, the agenda only gained momentum, displacing Russian news from Russian airtime.

Ukraine became the main bogeyman. The key content. The central theme. From the category "Same as we, only faces unfamiliar" she suddenly became a stranger, hostile and incomprehensible. And interest in her again began to beat the records.

But it is this "dominance of Ukraine" in the Russian media space that is quite indicative. It means only that from the point of view of Moscow, Kiev continues to "swim away". Creating a wave of emotions in the former metropolis. The same metropolitan country that used to consider this territory its own.

If Moscow stops discussing Ukraine, then she returned it.

Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Join also the TSN group. Blogs on facebook and follow the updates of the section!.