Briefly put, Ukraine was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union before the Union's breakup in 1991. Formally, what's now Ukraine was known as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic - or 'the Ukraine' for short.

Here's where the de jure situation separates into the de facto: in real life, for most of the Soviet Union's seven-decade history, each republic had little authority in itself - and all important decisions (such as foreign policy, defense, economic planning, etc) were made centrally in Russia.

Since Stalin's rule, parties in each republic were purged and replaced with loyalists, who were inclined to learn from the mistakes of their unfortunate predecessors and toe the Kremlin's line.

This centralisation resulted in an unwillingness of low-level cadres to take initiative - and thus make sure the top brass signed-off on most decisions. This was a feature, as much as it was a glitch of the early Soviet system.

Here are some top-of-my-head examples to demonstrate how centralised the Soviet state was:

• Sergo Ordzhonikidze, Soviet commissar (minister) of heavy industry, had installed in his office telephones linking directly to some of the largest factories in the Soviet Union - an extremely hands-on approach not followed to the same extent by many of his successors
• Stalin and his premier Vyacheslav Molotov met to personally decide which confectionary items should be produced and rolled out to the Soviet population
• For a time, even the menu in the main hotel of the Georgian capital Tbilisi was decided by Moscow planners
• A final story, this time possibly apocryphal, concerned the escaped zoo elephant in the Armenian capital of Yerevan. What should they do about the rampaging beast? Call Moscow!

This centralised system continued more or less until the late 80s, when Soviet leader Gorbachev decentralised and gave each republic more say in its own affairs.

As one historian noted, the Soviet Union was like a bar of chocolate - each piece looks separate, but in actuality, each piece is an integral part of the bar.

In more recent times, which may linger on the 20 year rule of this sub, some Ukrainians have wished to assert their country as the independent state it has been since 1991. Part of this effort includes calling the country just 'Ukraine', and changing the Russian spelling of Kiev to 'Kyiv', Kharkov to 'Kharkhiv,' etc.

These changes are not uniquely Ukrainian. Across the former socialist world - including what was formerly Yugoslavia - since the late 80s we've seen rising sense of nationalism, and re-affirmation of individual cultures and languages long minimised for much of the twentieth century. Future empire-builders would do well to take note.