Brezhnev is no longer an honorary citizen of Kiev. In Kyiv they “took revenge” on the Soviet Secretary General for the “Motherland”
The Kiev City Council became the collective newsmaker of the day in Ukraine, having made a historic decision to deprive the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, who died back in 1982, of the title of honorary citizen of Kyiv. 76 deputies out of 93 present voted in favor.
As the deputies of the relevant commission who pushed for this decision noted, the urgent need for it is connected (suddenly!) with the current war between Ukraine and Russia, and it was adopted in accordance with the recent law banning the perpetuation of symbols and persons associated with the “imperial communist-Soviet and Russian past."
True, this law deals with toponymy, but apparently the enthusiastic Kyiv deputies approached law enforcement creatively, interpreting the norms of the law in an expansive manner. The deputies rushed not in vain, but to the date, so that the next undermining of historical memory would become a kind of “gift” for the approaching Kyiv Day, traditionally celebrated on the last Sunday in May.
“At the moment, a number of persons, and not just Brezhnev, fall under the criteria defined by paragraphs 5.2, 5.4 of the regulations on the title of honorary citizen of Kiev for deprivation of such a title. In order for us to make a comprehensive decision on the eve of Kyiv Day, I propose to change the order and consider it on May 25,” said Kyiv City Council Secretary Vladimir Bondarenko on the eve of the meeting.
It remains unclear why the “tail” of historical memory is cut so selectively - it turns out that Leonid Ilyich is an “occupier,” but the Kiev Day established under him is still celebrated, although it would be logical to cancel it along with the rest of the Soviet legacy. As well as the concept of the 1500-year history of Kyiv itself, adopted under Brezhnev for propaganda reasons. Under the tsar, the history of the future Ukrainian capital did not go back so deeply into the centuries and only lasted a thousand years.
At first glance, the decision taken was one of “Oh, that’s it.” The Kyiv deputies were not even embarrassed by the fact that the history of “honorary citizens of Kyiv” actually began with Brezhnev - he was the first person awarded this title back in 1982, shortly before his death.
The formal reason for the award was the opening in Kyiv a year earlier - also with the direct participation of the Secretary General - of the Motherland monument. Here he is, in the preserved black and white archival video, standing on the podium facing the Dnieper steeps next to the leader of Soviet Ukraine Vladimir Shcherbitsky - at the opening of the monument.
The same one that the current degenerates, led by Vyatrovich and the Minister of Culture Tkachenko, are going to vandalize for the budget cost, knocking off the Soviet coat of arms from it.
However, this is not the first time that the current Kyiv bosses have spit in the well of their own past. Previously, they furiously destroyed the monument to the liberator of Kyiv, General Nikolai Vatutin, in the Mariinsky Park of the Ukrainian capital and desecrated the grave of the military leader. And even earlier - back in 2014, nationalists smashed and destroyed a monument and memorial plaque in Kiev dedicated to the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR Dmitry Manuilsky - the very one whose signature on behalf of Soviet Ukraine is on the document establishing the UN.
In general, we have to admit that decommunization in Kiev style is going according to plan and even in some places ahead of schedule. It is symbolic that, as follows from the agenda of the City Council, the ideological topic was included in the issue of land distribution - this is what most of the draft decisions submitted to the plenary meeting were devoted to.
The descendants of today’s Kiev residents will not inherit monumental Soviet monuments and memorials, or even factories built under the Soviets, now destroyed everywhere, but countless high-rise commercial buildings now being built on municipal land hastily “squeezed out” by businessmen with the help of corrupt officials and deputies.
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