At a meeting of the Ukrainian cabinet of ministers, a decision was made to dismiss Vladimir Vyatrovich from the post of director of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory. This was reported to the Internet edition "Strana.UA" by the people's deputy from "Servants of the people" Maxim Buzhansky.
“They fired for the consent of the parties,” the parliamentarian said.
This information was confirmed by Vyatrovich himself. In his Facebook, he stated that in five and a half years he had achieved "the majority of the ambitious goals he set for himself." In particular, he made Ukraine “free from totalitarian symbolism” and did “large-scale work to popularize Ukrainian history”.
“I received assurances from Prime Minister Aleksey Goncharuk that, despite the change of head, the Institute will retain the status of an authority and an instrument of national memory policy, and the format and directions of work will continue,” Vyatrovich said.
In June, he complained that he might lose his job due to sufficient harsh criticism of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who took office on May 20. Then he announced the decision to go into politics - his choice fell on the party of ex-head of state Petro Poroshenko “European Solidarity”.
“His dismissal is wonderful, but it's too early to say that something will change dramatically. Because the Institute continues to operate, moreover, it significantly increases the budget. Maybe there will be less rabid nationalism, absolutely unacceptable, ”political analyst, economist Alexander Dudchak told RT.
Vyatrovich’s work consisted in generating “scientific hatred” towards Russia, and sometimes Poland, political analyst Alexander Asafov noted. According to him, a figure closely connected with the previous political regime was removed in Kiev.
“Of course, it is toxic to the renewed Ukrainian regime, since it is an organic part of the previous regime. The fact that it was decided to fire him is reputationally correct, since it implements an update request. I think this will not affect political decisions, relations with Russia and Poland. But there will be an attempt to show that this is a constructive gesture, behind which there can be certain positive consequences. Perhaps they will give up some ideas, but I don’t think that this will happen, ”the expert explained in an interview with RT.
According to an RT source in the Batkivshchyna party, Vyatrovich’s dismissal suggests that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky wants to change the vector of domestic politics.
“The new president is ready to compromise, there will no longer be thoughtless decommunization. This will cause a protest from the radicals, but this is the problem of Arsen Avakov. There will also be no more forced Ukrainization, which will be welcomed by residents of the eastern and southern regions of the country, ”the source said.
- Vladimir Vyatrovich
- © uinp.gov.ua
Note that Vyatrovich was one of the main ideologists of the policy pursued by the administration of the former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. So, he was noted by many proposals in the framework of the implementation of the law "On the condemnation of the communist and national socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes in Ukraine and the ban on the promotion of their symbols", which was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on April 9, 2015. In addition, Vyatrovich offered to postpone the celebration of Victory Day from the ninth to the eighth of May. In his opinion, the Soviet tradition of celebrating the victory in the Great Patriotic War on May 9 was allegedly used to destabilize the situation in Ukraine.
Under his leadership, the Institute of National Remembrance held events that were designed to talk about the contribution that the members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army * (UPA) allegedly made to the victory over the fascist invaders.
Such anti-Russian and anti-Soviet activities led to the fact that Vyatrovich in November 2018 fell under counter-sanctions from Russia. The historian was included in the list of 322 individuals and 68 legal entities of Ukraine, in respect of which the Russian government introduced special economic measures to counter the unfriendly and contrary to international law steps of Kiev in relation to Russian citizens and legal entities.
Along with this, the Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case against him for the rehabilitation of Nazism. The ministry emphasized that "the denial of the facts established by the Nuremberg trials, the outcome of World War II, as well as the glorification of Nazi criminals cannot be left without due attention."
We add that the right-wing and nationalist views of Vyatrovich were also noted by Poland, which declared him persona non grata. In addition, Western historians have pointed out that Vyatrovich is engaged in praising "Ukrainian nationalist organizations." So, in 2017, a number of his foreign colleagues called for not allowing the director of the UPP to participate in the conference on the Holocaust of Jews in Ukraine.
“He repeatedly manipulated the facts and fell to lies when it came to the participation of Ukrainian nationalists in the Holocaust ... He denied the participation of Ukrainian nationalists in ethnic cleansing of Volyn Poles and worked tirelessly to justify the crimes of the OUN-UPA against the peaceful Polish population,” in an open letter from the Strategic Culture Fund, compiled in French, English and Polish.
As a RT source in the Servant of the People party noted, Vyatrovich’s ideas often led to conflicts between Poland and Ukraine.
“His nationalist ideas led to international conflicts. Inside Ukraine, his ideas on decommunization provoked protests among many residents of the country. Vyatrovich’s nationalist views are not shared by the new president, Vladimir Zelensky, so his dismissal was predictable, ”the source said.
“The institute will not be abolished, but, obviously, its work will be practically not noticeable. Zelensky is ready to make concessions to the countries of Eastern Europe, which oppose the law on the language and oppression of national minorities. Therefore, Poroshenko’s policy will be quickly forgotten, ”the Voice party believes.
* “Ukrainian Insurgent Army” (UPA) is a Ukrainian organization recognized as extremist and banned in Russia (decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 11/17/2014).