The use of the form "in Ukraine" supports spravochno - information portal to "Gramota.R":
"In 1993 on request of the Government of Ukraine it was necessary to recognize as the standard options "to Ukraine" (and respectively "from Ukraine"). Thereby, according to the Government of Ukraine, etymological link of designs not arranging it to Ukraine and on the suburb was broken. Ukraine as though received linguistic confirmation of the status of the sovereign state as names of the states, instead of regions are made out in the Russian tradition by means of pretexts in (in) and from... " (Graudina L. K. Itskovich V. A. Katlinsky L. P. Grammaticheskaya correctness of the Russian speech. M.: Science, 2001. Page 69).
Literary norm of modern Russian: in Ukraine, from Ukraine... literary norm of Russian according to which it is necessary to speak and write in Ukraine, - result of historical development of language throughout several centuries... The literary norm can't change suddenly from - for any political processes",
And here one more quote taken from this portal:
"Any speaking knows if it has a school-leaving certificate, contents of the program of high school. According to rules of Russian it is necessary to speak only "in Ukraine" - the sovereignty of other state can't influence grammar of any language".
Well, we will try to understand. In V. I. Dahl's dictionary it is specified that etymologically the name "Ukraine" occurs from the concept "ukrainny", "extreme":
"Ukrayny, ukrainny, extreme, at edge, on the edge of what being; distant boundary, porubezhny that on extreme borders of the state. Украй, украйна, area with the region of the state or extreme. Nowadays Ukrayna call Small Russia (Malorossiya) …".
Really, the name "Ukraine" as the historical name of the country occupied by Ukrainians, is known since the XII century.Then so called Pereyaslavskiye's (principality) earth and partially Galitsky (principality), being at boundaries of the breaking-up Kievan Rus'. Since the XIII century Central Transnistria, Galitsko joined these lands - the Volynsk principality, etc.
On an origin of the name "Ukraine" the historian, the author of the book "Key to History of Ukraine" Alexander Paly adheres to other point of view:
"During the Soviet and imperial period the theory about a name origin Ukraine from the word "suburb" was popular and ideologically convenient. Thanks to it peripheral value of the country for her inhabitants whom accustomed to love others Homeland was approved and to despise the. […]
In Ukrainian there is a word "ukrayati", that is "to allocate" with something, for example, bread, the earth etc. which probably is connected with the word Ukraine. Thus, originally the word Ukraine is designated by "our principality", "our earth", "country". The parallel here is extremely transparent and obvious - after all and nowadays on - Ukrainian the word "country" sounds as "краина".
"Ukrainian", respectively, designates "fellow countryman", "compatriot". This quite simple, however, if attentively to get a grasp of primary sources, the unique interpretation of the name of our country".
Question "As it is correct "in Ukraine" or "in Ukraine"? " I arose in 1990-x years after disintegration of the Soviet Union. The patriotic adjusted Ukrainians defended a position about correctness of the use of the form "in Ukraine", motivating it with that initial norm of Russian for the characteristic of location of the subject in relation to the state education is the pretext "in". The pretext "on" in Russian acts as initial norm at the characteristic of location of the subject in relation to the territory which isn't associating with the state education therefore politically correct to speak "in Ukraine", instead of "in Ukraine". For example, on Sakhalin, on Taimyr, on Volga, on Ladoga, in Kuban, in Pskovshchina, but in Sweden, in Germany, in the USA, in Chile, in Argentina; on the British Isles, but in Britain; on Japanese islands, but in Japan; in Ryazanshchina, but in the Ryazan principality.
Many Russian classics are on the side of the use of the form "in Ukraine" also:
- A.S. Pushkin. "Poltava": "Also I transferred war to Ukrayna".
- L.N. Tolstoy. "War and peace":"Bagration long doesn't join (though in it a main goal of all commanding persons) because it seems to him that he on this march puts the army and that is most favorable to it to recede more to the left and to the south in danger, disturbing from the flank and the back of the enemy and completing the army in Ukraine".
- A.P. Chekhov. Letter to I.Leontyev: "So, I go to Ukrayna, and you, a crocodile, you remain in the tundra".
We meet and at N. V. Gogol in the story "Fearful vengeance": "To an order isn't present in Ukraine: colonels and Cossack captains fight, as dogs, between themselves".
Representatives of the third group - "to us all the same" - note that in the last three centuries among native speakers of Russian both forms are widely used: and "in Ukraine", and "in Ukraine". Besides, the ratio between rate of use of these two forms wasn't and isn't constant. It changed on eras, and, very considerably.
Obviously, the major factor defining use of the form "in Ukraine", statehood existence in this country and preservation among native speakers of Russian of historical memory of existence of such statehood is.
The widest circulation of the form "in Ukraine" belongs by the time of strengthening of centralization of the government in the Russian Empire and the USSR, accompanied by attempts of destruction of memory of the Ukrainian statehood.
The use of the form "in Ukraine" was widespread in 18 - m and 19 - m eyelids when in society it was held accurate in remembrance recent statehood of Ukraine. Such use which has been strongly reduced in the Soviet years, significantly increased only in the last two decades.
The economist Andrey Illarionov who from 2000 to 2005 was Adviser to the President of the Russian Federation, considers that the beginning of the last stage of increase in relative scales of use of the form "in Ukraine" among native speakers of Russian falls on earlier period - 1981-1990, that is even before collapse of the USSR.
Now the choice native speakers of Russian of the use of the form "in Ukraine" is, therefore, unconscious (or conscious? ) linguistic refusal of recognition of existence of such state in modern Ukraine. And after all it is frequent and in the Nikolaev it is possible to hear "in Ukraine" … Probably, it is worth reflecting on where we live, in what state?