How about russian names of caucasian nations ?
I once had to give a lecture to Black Sea Nations delegations (Uktraine, Georgia, Azerbaïdjan) with translation in Russian by the Ukrainians.
Several of the Azeris were named Mamadov...
Yes, many nations of the former Russian Empire and USSR used "Slavic" surname endings as "-ov", "-ev", etc.
Some smaller Siberian and Far East nations adopted Russian-like names and surnames.
I can still understand people with the surname "Trotsky" changing it in the 1930s. But changing a Polish or Ukrainian surname in the vast majority of cases was easy enough to recognize - it could only provoke additional suspicion.
I would also doubt and didn't understand if I didn't live in the USSR. And didn't have friends, relatives, or other contacts who went through this situation and studied this question.
About the easy recognition:
1. Hundreds of surnames in two languages become unrecognisable after a small change. Examples: Pogorelyi (UA)-Pogorelov (RU), Holub (UA) - Golubev (RU).
2. Hundreds of other surnames require more change. Example: Tovstonogyi (UA) - Tolstonogov (RU).
3. Hundreds of surnames are changed with the retention of the original meaning. Example: Kovalenko (UA) - Kuznetsov (RU). Both originate from the "blacksmith".
4. Many other surnames are impossible to modify. Example: one can hardly "russify" the Ukrainian surnames Nepyivoda or Nezdiymynoha.
I apologise for drifting too far from the thread's topic and I will stop here.
We've haven't heard much about the F-16s for a while. Do we have images of their paint scheme? Is't NATO grey with the Ukrainian shield and roundels, like below?
Good question, Admiral.
There are many pictures of the grey scheme, as in your first photo. But it's hard to verify the dates.
The bottom part of the fuselage was painted yellow or orange on some Su-24 and Su-25, for visual identification. Maybe F-16s were painted in the same way if they fly low.
Russia has lost another Su-25 Frogfoot ground-attack jet, according to a brief statement from prominent Russian military blogger Fighterbomber. The post did not specify whether the incident occurred over Ukraine or within Russian territory. “A Su-25 crashed. The pilot was rescued. Everything is...
Before you lecture me completely unnecessarily about something I already know perfectly well, try to read carefully what I wrote to you. You are not responding on my objections, but on your fantasies.