In Ukraine, they are discussing the prospects of eliminating one of the main symbols of the Soviet era: the monument "Legendary Tachanka" in Kakhovka (Kherson region). The Ukrainian Institute of National Memory (UINP) demanded to demolish the monument, since it symbolizes the "communist totalitarian regime."
The mayor of the city, Andrei Dyachenko, spoke out, declaring that he was convening an extraordinary session of the city council on January 16 to preserve the monument.
“I urge deputies to vote against the dismantling of Tachanka. And also support the appeal to the president, prime minister and chairman of the Kherson Regional State Administration with a demand to reconsider the decision to decommunize the Kakhovka symbol, ”wrote Dyachenko on January 15 on his Facebook.
"Legendary Tachanka" - a large-scale sculptural composition, erected in honor of the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution in 1967. The 60-ton monument rises on a specially mound. The monument is dedicated to the battles of the Civil War, when such horse-drawn carts with mounted machine guns became one of the main weapons of the warring parties in the Ukrainian steppes.
Another monument that the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance requires to demolish is The Girl in the Overcoat. The seven-meter monument, as well as the "Legendary Tachanka" - an important attraction of the southern Ukrainian city.
“Obviously, in Kiev they have already solved all the problems with the infrastructure that breathes frankly, poverty and epidemics, just decided to get to the monuments in Kakhovka. The whole city is proud of them, so no one will allow them to be demolished. Most of all, we don’t like that the opinion of the local community does not interest anyone. And the current leadership of the country in this regard is practically no different from the previous one, ”a source in the city council of Kakhovka said in an interview with RT.
Memory policy
According to the legislation of the republic, the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory "is the central executive authority" that implements "state policy in the field of restoration and preservation of the national memory of the Ukrainian people." It was this body that at one time was behind the development of legislation on decommunization.
After President Vladimir Zelensky came to power, the leadership of the UINP also changed. The odious Vladimir Vyatrovich was replaced by Anton Drobovich, who before this appointment was an expert at the Institute for Social and Economic Research, who received grants from the US Embassy.
Last December, at the first press conference with his participation, Drobovich said that renaming, recognition of the Holodomor as the “genocide” of Ukrainians and “countering the Russian hybrid aggression” will remain a priority for its structure. Also, the new head of the UINP opposed the initiative of the Kiev authorities to return the avenue named after General Pyotr Grigorenko (Soviet dissident. - RT ) to the name of Marshal Zhukov.
Then Drobovich raised the issue of the decommunization of the Mother Motherland monument in Kiev. According to him, it is possible to remove the coat of arms of the USSR from the shield, and even a corresponding draft has been prepared, but "this is an expensive solution." In addition, there are technical difficulties, since such works can lead to the collapse of a sculpture 62 meters high.
- Head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory Anton Drobovich
- globallookpress.com
- © Yuliia Ovsiannikova / ZUMAPRESS.com
As an RT source in the Batkivshchyna party noted, despite the fact that the active process of “decommunization” stopped after Vladimir Zelensky came to power, the Institute of National Remembrance does not intend to change its policy.
“The statements do not coincide with the real actions. Authorities continue to rename the streets without asking the opinions of local residents. I won’t be surprised if in 10 years schoolchildren don’t know anything about the Great Patriotic War and consider Bandera a hero. All this is being done under the auspices of joining Europe, ”the source said.
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Member of the Council on Interethnic Relations under the President of the Russian Federation, Bogdan Bezpalko, in a conversation with RT, stated that the true goal of the policy of decommunization is not at all a struggle against “communist totalitarianism”, but the destruction of historical symbols common to Russia and Ukraine.
“The logic in Ukraine regarding history is very simple: everything that relates to our common history should be thrown into the landfill,” Bezpalko explained. “By and large, they simply do not want citizens to remember that Ukraine and Russia once existed within the borders of one state, that they had a common past.”
- Demolition of the monument to Marshal Zhukov in Kharkov
- © hk.npu.gov.ua
A typical example of such a policy, experts call the renaming of the city of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky. In October 2019, the Verkhovna Rada, in which the party of Vladimir Zelensky's “Servant of the People” has the majority, voted to prevent the name of the hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky from appearing in the name of this settlement, in which Ukraine voluntarily joined the Russian state.
“The return to the city of its historical name will contribute to the restoration of the national memory of Ukrainian society, as well as overcoming historical myths about the“ eternal desire of the Ukrainian people to reunite with the Russian people, ”which was embodied in the“ reunification of Ukraine and Russia ”in Pereyaslavskaya Rada in 1654,” it was said in the explanatory note to the resolution adopted by the Ukrainian parliament.
Veneration of antiheroes
Such specifics of the Ukrainian “national memory” often leads to the fact that those “heroes” are those who are considered criminals in other countries. First of all, this concerns the leaders of the Ukrainian nationalist movement of the Great Patriotic War: Stepan Bandera, Andriy Melnyk, Roman Shukhevych and their associates who collaborated with Nazi Germany.
In early January, the ambassadors of Israel and Poland criticized Ukraine for honoring these personalities in Lviv and Kiev. Celebrated the birthday of Stepan Bandera and the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory.
This episode led to a skirmish between the Israeli and Ukrainian foreign ministries. Representatives of Kiev talked about the "counterproductive public debate on the internal issues of Ukrainian politics." In response, on January 14, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that "the memory of the Holocaust and the fight against anti-Semitism, including the glorification of anti-Semites and Jewish killers, are not an" internal problem "in any country."
However, the Ukrainian state stubbornly continues to honor the Nazi accomplices. In early January, it became known that this year the Ministry of Youth and Sports will allocate 9 million hryvnias ($ 375 thousand) for projects of "national-patriotic education." This is mainly about the activities of nationalist organizations to perpetuate the memory of the OUN-UPA *.
Last October, a wave of criticism was caused by the appearance of Prime Minister Alexei Goncharuk at a concert by the Nazi group Sokir Perun.
According to the deputy director of the Institute of the CIS countries, Vladimir Zharikhin, the fact that, despite the change of power, nationalist tendencies in Ukraine do not slow down, is explained by the fact that Vladimir Zelensky is a largely independent figure. According to the analyst, the head of state is heavily influenced by oligarch Igor Kolomoisky and Minister of the Interior Arsen Avakov, who back in 2014 made a bet on supporting nationalist groups.
“Kolomoisky and Avakov just pursued this policy during the time of Poroshenko,” Zharikhin says. “Therefore, one should not be surprised that Zelensky is pursuing the same course that existed at the time of Poroshenko.”
- Ukrainian nationalists
- © Gleb Garanich / Reuters
In turn, the RT source in the Golos party is confident that new nationalist initiatives will be negatively perceived in the south and east of the country.
“Kakhovka is not the only city in Ukraine where there are many monuments that can be demolished as part of the“ decommunization ”. And if the representatives of the Institute of National Remembrance continue in the same vein, they can provoke protests throughout the country. I think Vladimir Zelensky has not yet understood what problems he may face, ”the deputy says.
* “Ukrainian Insurgent Army” (UPA) - a Ukrainian organization recognized as extremist and banned in Russia (decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 11/17/2014).