Ukraine’s parliament fails to pass a bill ‘de-Russifying’ town names

Source: Oleksiy Honcharenko/Telegram

On Wednesday, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine failed to pass a crucial vote on the de-Russification of over 300 localities, drawing a heated response from some MPs who blocked the parliamentary tribune in protest to the vote results.

The draft policy 11188 proposed to rename seven districts, 15 cities, 56 towns, and 263 villages in line with the law “On the Condemnation and Prohibition of Russian Imperial Policy Propaganda in Ukraine and the Decolonization of Toponyms.” The proposed changes would see the town of Yuzhne in Odesa Oblast becoming Port-Annenthal, Novomoskovsk in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast going back to its old name,Samar, while Pervomaisk in Luhansk Oblast would be again Sokolohirsk.

The vote though fell short as only 208 MPs supported the policy while 75 abstained, three voted against, and five didn’t show up to vote. The results ired some lawmakers who swiftly blocked the tribune, demanding another vote on the issue.

“Look at the tribune; MPs from all factions are gathered here, except for Opposition Platform for Life. Even some level-headed members of [the ruling party] are here,” said Iryna Herashchenko, co-chair of the European Solidarity faction. “We have decided that parliament will not continue its work until the resolution on renaming 330 localities—currently named after the executioners of the Ukrainian people—is passed.”

MP Sofiya Fedyna blamed the Servant of the Peopls MPs for the vote failure while her fellow lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko claimed, “The main issue is that we block the tribune over renaming cities and districts—and that’s fair—but we don’t block the tribune over the mobilization of people under 25. That’s where the system is unjust.”

He also pointed out the unintended irony in some proposed town names, arguing, “We’re removing Russian names, but we’re getting German ones instead,” in reference to renaming Yuzhne to Port-Annenthal.