The Kiev District Administrative Court ordered the Ukrainian government to approve the Unified National Register of World War II Monuments at the suit of the Kharkov authorities, according to the website of the city mayor’s office. According to Konstantin Prokopyev, deputy director of the Legal Department of the Kharkov City Council, the absence of this document hinders the “perpetuation of the victory over Nazism”, including the memory of Marshal Georgy Zhukov.

The emergence of the registry will allow "to provide funding for maintenance, protection and other activities regarding these monuments from the state or local budgets." Kharkiv authorities also expect that they will be able to assign names to streets, avenues, and “other toponymic facilities,” says Prokopyev.

“Liquidation of Soviet paraphernalia”

The need to create a Unified National Register of World War II Monuments is spelled out in the so-called package of laws on decommunization, which Petro Poroshenko signed on May 15, 2015.

It consists of four documents: “On the perpetuation of the victory over Nazism in the Second World War of 1939-1945”, “On access to the archives of the repressive organs of the communist totalitarian regime of 1917-1991”, “On the condemnation of the communist and national socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes and the prohibition of propaganda of their symbols ”,“ On the legal status and memory of fighters for the independence of Ukraine in the XX century ”.

An explanation on the president’s website said that these laws prohibit "Soviet symbols, condemn the communist regime, open archives of the Soviet special services and are recognized as UPA * and other organizations as fighters for the independence of Ukraine."

According to the law on decommunization, among other things, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine must approve the Unified National Register of Monuments of World War II. It will allow the state to take under protection and guardianship monuments and commemorative signs about the participants and victims of World War II.

However, the register was never approved, despite the fact that over the past five years the composition of the government of Ukraine has changed twice: in 2016 with the arrival of Vladimir Groysman and in 2019 with the appointment of Prime Minister Alexei Goncharuk. Experts explain the ignoring of legislation by the executive branch as a reluctance to protect any monuments of the Soviet past.

  • Monument to Lenin in Ukraine
  • Reuters
  • © Valentyn Ogirenko

In an interview with RT, the president of the Center for System Analysis and Forecasting Rostislav Ishchenko said that the lack of a unified registry allows Ukraine to continue "bacchanalia" with desecration and dismantling of WWII monuments, including unauthorized ones. The expert doubts that the Cabinet of Honcharuk will fulfill the decision of the Kiev court.

“The Ukrainian leadership is faced with the task of demolishing as many monuments of the Soviet era as possible. For this reason, the authorities are in no hurry with the approval of the registry, because it is likely to limit the scope of vandalism. Even if the government agrees to accept the registry, it can take a long time to create it. This procedure is easy to tighten, ”stated Ishchenko.

RISI Leading Researcher Oleg Nemensky believes that consideration and adoption of the Unified National Register of World War II Monuments can cause disputes and conflicts in Ukraine.

“I doubt that the register will be compiled adequately, and therefore its approval is unlikely to change anything. The so-called law on decommunization is absolutely clearly aimed at the full-scale elimination of Soviet paraphernalia, ”said Nemensky.

“Memory Retention Request”

The policy of de-communization in Ukraine is expressed mainly in the renaming of cities and streets, as well as in the dismantling of monuments to Vladimir Lenin and senior military commanders of the Red Army, despite the fact that the law forbids removing monuments related to the resistance and expulsion of the Nazi occupiers.

Nevertheless, in some cases, the police recorded acts of vandalism and unauthorized demolition of monuments by representatives of radical groups. So, a great resonance was caused by the destruction of the bust to Marshal Zhukov in the center of Kharkov on June 2 last year. Three law enforcement officers who tried to prevent the nationalists received chemical eye burns and were taken to hospital.

Responsibility for vandalism was assumed by the party "National Corps", which is led by ex-deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Andrei Biletsky. The representative of this political force, Maxim Zhorin, said that "neither Zhukov nor any other pro-Russian politician has a place in Ukraine." According to Kharkov authorities, some of the radicals involved in the demolition of the monument came from other regions of the country.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine has opened criminal cases under the articles “Hooliganism” and “Threat or violence against a law enforcement officer”. However, the results of the investigation are still not known.

Kharkiv Mayor Gennady Kernes promised to restore the bust, and on July 10, the monument was completely renovated. In a statement dated June 4, the mayor emphasized that the Zhukov monument does not contradict the law on decommunization, but recognized the existence of a legal conflict that impedes the protection of the Great Patriotic War monuments.

Kernes also said that the imperfection of the law on decommunization prevents the return of the former name of one of the main streets of Kharkov, which in 2016 was renamed from Marshal Zhukov Avenue to Grigorenko Avenue (a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, a well-known Soviet dissident. - RT ). The petition for the renaming, which Kernes published in May, received the support of tens of thousands of residents. However, the Kharkov District Court found this initiative illegal.

  • Demolition of the bust by the radicals to Zhukov in Kharkov
  • RIA News
  • © Stringer

On September 10, Kernes wrote on his Facebook page that the city hall would appeal the decision of the district court. According to him, the authorities will continue to insist on returning the prospectus to the name of Marshal Zhukov, who "was one of the key military leaders who liberated Ukraine from Nazism."

“Kernes is a politician, and I would not have somehow idealized his initiatives. However, it is obvious that the activities of the mayor of Kharkov reflect the request of the local population to preserve the memory of the Second World War, which the country's leadership, nationalists and pseudo-historians are trying to erase, ”said Nemensky.

"The fight against memory"

In addition to state power and nationalists, the Ukrainian National Memory Institute (UINP) plays a leading role in the process of decommunization. In September, the Ukrainian government dismissed the director of this organization, Vladimir Vyatrovich. In December, the candidate of philosophical sciences, the head of educational programs at the Babi Yar Memorial Center for the Holocaust, Anton Drobovich, was appointed in his place.

At the end of December at a press conference, Drobovich announced the continuation of the policy of decommunization. At the same time, he made some conciliatory appeals. For example, in response to a journalist’s question about why anti-Semitic literature is being sold on Khreshchatyk and whether it is normal to glorify the SS Galicia division, Drobovich said that demonstrating Nazi symbols “offends the memory of many people.”

Nevertheless, in general, the course of the Institute of National Memory has not changed. On January 21, in an interview with the Ukrainian News publication, Drobovich said that the UINP plans to conduct "lecture cycles in schools" on the importance of decommunization. On January 15, the Institute demanded that the authorities of the city of Kakhovka (Kherson region) demolish the monument “Legendary Tachanka” as a symbol of the “communist totalitarian regime”.

  • Torchlight procession in honor of the birthday of Stepan Bandera
  • Reuters
  • © Valentyn Ogirenko

Oleg Nemensky believes that Drobovich pursues a policy that is practically no different from Vyatrovich’s course. He called the activities of the Institute of National Remembrance a peculiar quintessence of the ideology of modern Ukraine.

“With the advent of Zelensky and the appointment of Drobovich, Kiev’s aggressive nationalist rhetoric softened a little. But on the whole, everything remains the same: people are trying to unite on the basis of anti-Soviet and anti-Russian sentiments, ”Nemensky explained.

A similar point of view adheres to Rostislav Ishchenko. According to him, the Ukrainian authorities intentionally “provoke Russophobia” and propagate an ideology based on radical nationalism.

“It is no coincidence that the Ukrainian authorities are not trying to more clearly regulate the content of the law regarding Nazi symbols (attributes of the SS are not prohibited in the document. - RT ). This allows the radicals to feel at ease with Zelensky. Kiev continues to fight against any memory of the unity of Ukrainians with the Russian people and Russians living in Ukraine, ”summed Ishchenko.

* "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).