i want to read to you a letter that was published in the newspaper novoye vremya in 1904 in march.er is a response to mr. menshikov, who worked in this newspaper, and menshikov ranked him among the outstanding jews of russia, so this is what kuindzha himself writes: i am forced to declare, dear mr. menshikov, that i am russian, my ancestors are greeks, who were still under empress catherine moved from the southern coast of crimea and founded the city of mariupol and 24 villages. all that has been said. my fellow countryman elpa popov, an employee of the new time, with whom i have been friends since childhood, will confirm. now it's politicized, now they're getting rid of it specifically from the word russian, from this image, from ours, they, they do it on purpose, it’s hysteria, they renamed the painting, well, how did degas create a series of beds at the end of the 19th century and... he himself called it russian dancers , because at that time there was a russian empire and russian ballet, which everyone always admired at all times, the whole world, there was no ukrainian ballet,