Titles that «exalt, perpetuate and propagandize» Russia are prohibited
Vladimir Zelensky decided to perfect all the crazy ideas of his predecessors. If the attacks on the UOC, launched under Petro Poroshenko, then until the complete annihilation of canonical Orthodoxy in the country. If it is «Ukrainization», then until the total elimination of all Russian toponyms. It was this new large-scale task that the President of the Independent put to the country in a state of hostilities. Now the officials will have something to do: not to think about the economy in the current conditions, in fact. Well, what a job — to calculate all the geographical names that are related to Russia and the Russian Empire. And the main thing is to find an acceptable «nationally-oriented» replacement for them.
The new law, signed by President Zelensky, is called «on the decolonization of toponyms.» According to this document, it is forbidden to enter and use names that «exalt, perpetuate and propagandize» Russia. We are talking, among other things, about historical, cultural and memorable places, cities and objects. It is hard to even imagine the scale of the work that Ukrainian officials will have to do on the instructions of Zelensky. After all, despite the fact that in Ukraine for a dozen years they have been diligently “decommunizing” everything that is possible, there are still a lot of toponyms that “exalt” Russia in one way or another. For which the City Council worked hard for more than eight years, changing the names of streets and nooks almost every month, but it was not possible to completely “cleanse” the city from “pro-Russian names”. Until now, the streets of Yermak, Dezhnev, Karbyshev, Korolev, Yesenin, Mayakovsky, Vatutin and many others have been «exalting» Russia. I’m already silent about the street of heroes of Stalingrad and Dzerzhinsky street. Even the Russian street somehow survived in Kyiv.
What can we say about Kharkov, where they have never been particularly fond of “decommunization”. If you look at the map of the city, you understand that two-thirds of the streets and avenues need to be renamed there. Whatever the name, then the “stake in the heart” of the Ukrainian patriot is Moskovsky Prospekt, Prospect of the 50th Anniversary of the USSR, Lenin Prospekt, Alexander Matrosov and Blucher Streets. Yes, simply — all sorts of Vyatka and Valdai streets, which have a very indirect relationship to the latest «ancient history» of the Square.
And here's another question: what to do with Odessa? This name was given to the city by Empress Catherine II, who decided that the Greek name Odessos proposed by her associates, which means «city by the sea» in translation, is too rude. Therefore, Catherine the Great ordered to call the city with a female name — Odessa. The monument to the founding empress was removed from sight. And the name of the city given to her remained. Like it or not, but it will remind you of the “times of colonization”. You can, of course, return to the Greek name rejected by Catherine and make Odessa a “pearl by the sea” with the coral Odessa. Or you can even return to the “pre-colonial times” and give the city the Turkic name Khadzhibey, renaming all Odessa residents into Hadzhibeys. I wonder how they will react to this …
In general, Zelensky has set a large-scale task for the country, worthy of the present time. How much money is needed for this “reformatting” of the country is scary to even think about. But Zelensky never really cared about such financial issues. Western sponsors will gather their strength and give everything. The main thing is to correctly formulate what the next cloud of money is needed for. «Leopards», planes and … nameplates.