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" In Ukrainian case, "nationalist" term is an overused misnomer because Soviets branded ANY show of Ukrainian patriotism and independence movements as "nationalist"."

I think you've hit the root of the current problems. The Soviets enforced multiculturalism attempted to stifle any "national" pride. Add to this that most of these decrees emanated from Moscow and were seen as being "pro-Russian" in nature. After the implosion of the Soviet Union the leftover resentment from perceived Russification led to a spike in radical nationalism, instead of "national" patriotism.

In my travels, I've noticed the amount of hatred of another nation is based on what racial group the person is. For example, in Turkmenistan, they see Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians as all being the oppressor since the Slavic races enjoyed dominance over the other races. Same can be said for the Baltics. They don't really differentiate between Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians. Now, of course, they're willing to play the Ukraine and Russia off of each other, because it suits their goals.

As they see it, each of those ethnicities enjoyed dominance over the other ethnicities. However, for Ukrainians, Russians are resented for being the dominant ethnicity during Soviet times. Russians, on the other hand, see Ukrainians as ungrateful because they feel they "hooked" up their Slavic brothers during Soviet times.

To me, an outside observer, it's all nonsense. None of these countries will truly be able to advance in a clean and uncomplicated manner without putting aside their differences and forgiving the past. They were all victims in one way or the other. Basing your foreign policy outlook because of hurt feelings from decades ago only leads to disaster. Ukraine and Russia BOTH need to keep this in mind. In reality neither can do completely without the other.