MOSCOW, July 7. /TASS/. The Kiev City Council’s decision to rename Moskovsky Prospekt (Moscow Avenue) in honor of nationalist Stepan Bandera insults the memory of Nazism victims, Russian Foreign Ministry Envoy for Human Rights, Democracy and the Supremacy of Law Konstantin Dolgov told TASS on Thursday.
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"This is a direct insult to the memory of all those dead in the fight against Nazism and fascism with its local accomplices," the Russian envoy said.
According to Dolgov, the decision to rename the avenue insults "the memory of the millions of victims, including Ukrainians, who were killed by Nazis and their accomplices."
Such decisions "have been replicated in Ukraine in recent years and doubts emerge about the sanity of people passing them," the Russian Foreign Ministry human rights envoy said.
The streets renamed in Kiev will be returned their historical names in the course of time, Dolgov said.
"A day will come when these streets and this avenue will be renamed again. At some stage, Ukrainian politicians will come to their senses and the names of Nazi henchmen will be erased from the face of Ukraine. This moment will inevitably come," the high-ranking Russian diplomat said.
The Kiev City Council voted on Thursday to rename Moscow Avenue in Kiev in honor of Bandera, one of the Ukrainian nationalist leaders during World War II. The Council also renamed several other streets in the city linked with the Russian history.