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Derussification in Ukraine

Not to be confused with Ukrainization.
Not to be confused with Decommunization in Ukraine.

Derussification in Ukraine (Ukrainian: Деросифікація в Україні, romanized: Derosyfikatsiia v Ukraïni) is a process of removing Russian influence from the country of Ukraine. This includes getting rid of the effects of the colonial past, which began during the collapse of the Russian Empire, but was interrupted, partly during the policy of indigenization, and finally resumed after the collapse of the USSR and intensified during the demolition of Lenin monuments during the Euromaidan and further systemic process of decommunization in Ukraine. The main impetus for the revival of the process was also the Russo-Ukrainian War. As of April 8, 2022, according to a poll by the sociological group Rating, 76% of Ukrainians support the initiative to rename streets and other objects whose names are associated with Russia.

The process is manifested in the renaming of toponyms named after Russian statesmen and cultural figures, or those that are Russism, or those that reflect the Russian worldview or associated with Russia. Also part of the process is the dismantling of objects of the colonial past (plaques, signs, monuments, busts, panels, etc.)

History

The process began at the same time as the collapse of the USSR, but since the issue of decommunization was a much bigger problem, it received relatively little attention in a single dimension. These processes turned out to be closely connected and initially took place, mostly spontaneously and unsystematically. As the process of decommunization in Ukraine is almost over by 2022, after the beginning of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, some progress began in the issue of derussification.

Against the background of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, de-Russification began in Ukraine. In villages and towns, street names were changed and Soviet-Russian monuments were demolished. Not only architectural structures but also street names related to Russia have been de-Russified. Changes were made in Lviv, Dnipro, Kyiv and Kharkiv. In turn, Ivano-Frankivsk became the first city in Ukraine to be completely free of Russian place names.

On April 21, 2022, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksii Danilov stated that the total derussification of business, politics and many spheres of Ukrainian life is inevitable "we will not have anything Russian left here".

Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko stated that the derussification of Ukraine will take place naturally.

Chronology

2022

Resistance

  • On February 25, 2021, Cherkasy City Council voted to rename 7 streets and one lane. Volkova Street was renamed Ivan Mazepa, Krylov Street was renamed Vasyl Stus Street, Mozhaisky Street was renamed Stepan Bandera Street, Titov Street was renamed Titarn Street, Stasov Street was renamed Metropolitan Lypkivskyi Street, Statsov Street was renamed Petro Doroshenko, Dobrovolskyi Street was renamed Sinna Street, and Nevskyi Lane Street was renamed Khmilnyk Lane. However, this decision was vetoed by the mayor.
  • March 11, 2021 Cherkasy City Council failed to overcome the veto of the mayor to rename the streets.
  • On November 18, 2021, the Pervomaisk City Council denied the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for the Protection of the State Language Taras Kremin to raise the issue of renaming the city of Pervomaisk.

Support

As of April 8, 2022, according to a poll by the sociological group Rating, 76% of Ukrainians support the initiative to rename streets and other objects whose names are associated with Russia.

The following well-known Ukrainian figures advocated full de-Russification in Ukraine:

Dynamics

Indicator of the Ukrainian language on Ukrainian television

Year 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Percentage of Ukrainian language 22,2 % 27,9 % 31,8 % 30,3 % 30,3 % 30,6 % 39,2 % 64,4 % 92,0 % ?

Ukrainian language indicator on Ukrainian radio

Year 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Percentage of Ukrainian language 4,6 % 3,4 % 2,2 % 5,0 % 4,9 % 30,0 % 32,0 % 54,0 % 57,0 % ?

Indicator of schools in Ukraine with Ukrainian as the language of instruction

Year 1955 1986 1991 1992 1994 1996 1998 2005 2006 2007 2011 2012 2017 2018 2019 2020
Percentage of Ukrainian language 72,8 % 40,6 % 49,3 % 51,4 % 56,5 % 60,0 % 65,0 % 77,0 % 78,0 % 79,0 % 82,2 % 81,9 % 90,0 % 92,0 % ? 100 %.

Russification historical myths

De-Russification is also the struggle against local Russification historical myths - myths aimed at the so-called "justification" of the Russification of Ukrainian cities. Such Russian local historical myths include myths such as "Kyiv has always spoken the Russian language", "Odesa is the South Palmyra" (St. Petersburg was called "Northern Palmyra" in the Russian Empire) and others.[citation needed]

Monuments

See also

This page was last updated at 2022-05-21 14:35 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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