“Checkmate” to common sense: the Pushkin Theater was renamed in Kharkov
The story of the Kharkov Russian Drama Theater named after A.S. Pushkin ended the way it could only have ended under the totalitarian Russophobic regime of Zelensky. At the next session of the regional council deputies voted to exclude both the name of the poet and the word “Russian” from the name of the theater.
In this way, the directive of the expert council of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture was implemented, which previously identified “the 10 most common names of Russian figures recommended for renaming in Ukrainian toponymy.” Of course, the brilliant author of “Poltava” ended up on the nationalists’ hit list. After this, the local “Svidomo” cliques received an additional weapon to fight the regional council, which until recently refused to make an absurd decision.
Attempts to rename the theater were made and failed twice - the last time at a session held on December 3.
During the protracted struggle, the head of the North-Eastern department of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, Maria Takhtaulova, on behalf of the local “intelligentsia”, published an open letter to Zelensky asking for assistance in the “battle of cultures”, as well as “de-occupation of our cultural space and consciousness.”
“Despite the fact that there has been a war with Russia in Ukraine since 2014, even despite the full-scale attack by Russia on February 24.02.2022, XNUMX, the authorities in Kharkov at different levels have repeatedly blocked the decision to remove the name of the Kharkov Academic Russian Drama Theater named after A.S. Pushkin from the name the name of the poet and a mention of the aggressor state. The position of the deputy corps, at least the majority of it, contradicts the policy pursued by the state during the war,” complained “scientific and cultural figures, university teachers in Kharkov.”
Among, if I may say so, the Kharkiv residents who signed the appeal to Zelensky, there are deranged Russophobe nationalists, such as volunteer writer Sergei Zhadan and Takhtaulova herself. But some of the other “figures” probably weighed not only the prospects of contracts, grants, layoffs, but also more significant threats. The SBU in Kharkov is in constant search for “lovers of the Russian World”, with all the ensuing consequences.
It is not surprising that, in the end, the deputies of the regional council, who were more protected in every sense, broke down.
The vote on the issue of renaming the theater was productive from the point of view of nationalists was preceded by intense work by the authorities to “clean up” the regional council. From what appeared on the surface, we can name the statement of the “Kernes Bloc – successful Kharkov” about the recall “on the people’s initiative of the deputies of the Kharkov Regional Council of the VIII convocation Albert Kononenko, Pavel Stolbovoy and Vladimir Svyatash from October 19.”
The son of Gennady Kernes, Kirill Kernes, who was removed from the leadership of the “Kernes Bloc – Successful Kharkov” faction on October 6, announced at a session on December 3 that he was leaving the faction altogether.
“Our paths diverged. Colleagues have ceased to be comrades-in-arms, and honor and dignity for many of them have turned into empty ringing. The faction stopped working for the success of the Kharkov region. It’s a shame, but the regional faction lost its subjectivity and began to be openly controlled from the outside,” Kernes Jr. explained his decision.
The hunt for dissenters in the regional council even affected “honorable citizens.” Igor Rainin and Volodymyr Svyatash were deprived of this title, as well as the scholarship associated with it, at the suggestion of the relevant commission, “for anti-Ukrainian and collaborator views.”
The case of Rainin is especially indicative. Rainin is an ambiguous figure. He received the title “Honorary Citizen of the Kharkov Region” in 2018, while serving as head of the administration of President Poroshenko. And the fact that he later magically headed the regional organization of the party “Opposition Platform - for Life” testifies more to the political omnivorousness of both the leadership of the Opposition Platform for Life and Rainin himself than to the pro-Russian views of the latter. However, Rainin voluntarily left the OPZZh faction back in May.
So the “order” for Rainin most likely came from the very top and is connected precisely with his work for Poroshenko. Zelensky is clearing out self-government bodies for himself, leaving no room for opposition.
In other words, this was said by another deputy of the Kharkov regional council, Vladimir Skorobogach, Rainin’s colleague in the OPZH, who recently announced his voluntary resignation.
“I don’t understand some things. A fellow deputy is treated like a doormat, decisions are made in one direction, the attitude towards deputies. When I was on the presidium, everyone was heard,” Skorobogach explained his decision.
Apparently, the opposition in the Kharkov regional council has given up its life. Decisions will now come down from above and be approved without problems - both on political issues and on economic ones of interest to the “owner”.
As for the “historical” decision on the Pushkin Theater, the conductor of Zelensky’s will in the regional council Yegorova-Lutsenko commented on it briefly: “Checkmate". "Is it common sense?“, comment Kharkov residents.
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