I believe you. I know that Ukrainians have/had a different religion to Russians, to name just one objective distinction. But -- and I'm not being facetious --- what is strikingly distinct about contemporary Belarusian culture, apart from the language (which, I'm told, is not that different from any of the Slavic languages)? Obviously negligible cultural differences have never been much of an obstacle to well-organised nationalists _anywhere_.
--- I would say there's practically zero difference between Russian and Belarusian culture. Belarus flirtef with nationalism in the early 90s, but Lukashenko has been solidly pro-Russian until recently (when Putin told him he wasn't going to get his Union).
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That's why I said "the oil in the Caucasus". I can imagine the Russian politicians, bureaucrats and oligarchs of the mid-90s --- rightly or wrongly --- fearing some kind of domino effect from Chechen independence.
--- Oh, they did. Very wrongly. Dagestan's not going anywhere.
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Maybe so. As I was trying to say, I don't think nationalism necessarily has anything to do with real oppression; but it is _always_ a convenient ideology for nascent, localised ruling classes. --- Nationalism in Western Ukraine, despite the fact that Russia is where Ukraine gets its money from and Kievan Rus was the origin of Russia, just has to be heard to be believed. In Ukraine, you can hear, on state radio, learned discussions of how Ukrainian is the oldest language in the world and Ukraine the fount of world civilization.