My mother was born in Barabinsk, Siberia. My father would taunt her by playfully calling her a 'Mongolka' (Mongolian woman), she did after all live among the Kyrgyz people in Kazakhstan for a considerable time. She often spoke well of these people however she was somewhat miffed when she recalled that they referred to my mother's family as Urus Jaman (Dirty Russians). It is interesting that the Kyrgyz equated Ukrainians and Russians as the same people, even in those days.