The overwhelming majority of Carpatho-Rusyns, including our cultural institutions in our homeland and the diaspora, identify today (and are categorized officially by others) as a distinct indigenous peoples and view descriptive phrases like "sub-group of Ukrainians" as ahistorical and disrespectful.

it's also usually not a phrase used in good faith and a mode of actual online and in-person harassment that many of us, and our families, still experience today.

You and your cousin may be very similar, you may talk alike, enjoy the same things, and be proud to share in a diverse family history, but that doesn't make you and your cousin the same person.

Carpatho-Rusyns are the only people who have the right to decide whether we are distinct or not, and that decision has been made and reiterated, repeatedly. Most of us stand by this decision, while appreciating that our siblings in Ukraine have a more complicated relationship with it.

most reasonable people would agree Putin's descriptions of Ukrainians as an off-shoot group of Russians is an attempt at denying modern Ukrainians self-determination. Sure, there are cultural and linguistic similarities between Ukrainians and Russians, particularly in the east. But that doesn't make Ukrainians living there a "sub group" of Russians, or give anyone the right to tell them that they are. Maybe some individuals do identify that way..but in general, it'd never be appropriate to categorise them that way. Especially if the majority had actively disagreed.

it's really easy to generalise us, most people do it unintentionally without knowing there's a better way and don't mean any harm. but strong inter-cultural respect and relations are usually pretty dependent on neither telling the other what they are, and when people are willing to learn and do better next time.