Modern Context
Although originally "Little Russia" (Rus' Minor) was merely a geographic, linguistic and ethnological term, it is now archaic and its usage in the modern context to refer to the country Ukraine and the modern Ukrainian nation, its language, culture, et c., is considered an improper anachronism. Such usage is typically perceived as an imperialist view that the Ukrainian territory and people ("Little Russians") belong to "one, indivisible Russia." Regardless of whether they are aware or not of its origin, today many Ukrainian nationalists consider the term to be disparaging, indicative of an "older brother" attitude, and of imperial Russian (and Soviet) suppression of the Ukrainian national idea. In particular, it has continued to be used in Russian national discourse, where modern Ukrainians is presented as a single people in united Russian nation. This added new hostility and disapproval of the term by some Ukrainians.
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