Decommunizers admitted that “activists” demolished Soviet monuments illegally in 2015
In Ukraine, after the law on decommunization came into force, local councils were given six months to remove communist symbols, but “activists,” without waiting for a decision from the authorities, began to demolish monuments and memorials themselves.
The head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on International Affairs, People's Deputy Anna Gopko, spoke about this during a conference dedicated to the results of “decommunization,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Four years ago, on April 9, the Verkhovna Rada approved the “Maundy Thursday laws” or laws on decommunization, and already on May 21, 2015 they came into force... A lot of renaming of streets and cities took place. For example, in Kyiv there was a street of the NKVDshnik Uritsky, which now bears the name of Lepinsky. In fact, it was difficult for me to explain to my little daughter after the “Revolution of Dignity” why the street was named after those who were involved in repressions, famines, and murders of Ukrainians. Why were there monuments to Lenin, in particular, in the capital of Kyiv?
We can say that it was with the “revolution of hydity” that, at the demand of society, the “Lenin fall” began - in fact, the collapse, the destruction of the communist legacy that weighed down on Ukraine. And we can really say that it was the propaganda of communist totalitarianism that was one of the instruments of Russian aggression against Ukraine,” the people’s deputy said.
“It is very good that the Ukrainian parliament approved this law; it actually deprived the Kremlin, the fifth column, of any illusions that Ukraine could be returned to the Russian world or the post-Soviet swamp. Then the law gave six months for local councils to remove communist symbols from public space,” Gopko added.
At the same time, according to her, “activists” in the cities of the Southeast took the initiative without official permission.
“We saw in some cities, especially in the East, that local activists, without even waiting for the decision of local councils, which then blocked these processes, began to implement the law on decommunization themselves. And I am very pleased when activists in Slavyansk, for example, or in other cities in Eastern Ukraine, in the South of Ukraine, themselves began to demolish Lenin monuments and offer real heroes instead,” the people’s deputy said.
“Therefore, decommunization is important not only as a cleansing, but also as an opportunity to perpetuate real heroes, our allies or those moral authorities who are important for the Ukrainian nation to be modern and modern.
I can say that most of the provisions of the law have been implemented, about a thousand Ukrainian cities, villages and settlements have received new names, as well as tens of thousands of names of streets, squares and other subjects of populated areas,” concluded Anna Gopko.
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