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Russian lawmaker criticizes Kiev’s policy of renaming streets

A lawmaker comments on Kiev's decision to rename Moscow Avenue in honor of Stepan Bandera, Ukraine’s nationalist leader

MOSCOW, July 7 /TASS/. Frants Klintsevich, the deputy head of the Russian Federation Council Defense and Security Committee, has criticized the Kiev city authorities for renaming the Moscow Avenue into the Prospect of Stepan Bandera, Ukraine’s nationalist leader, and called it an act of fascistization of Ukrainian society.

"As for renaming the Moscow Avenue in Kiev into a prospect bearing the name of Stepan Bandera, a monster and executioner, is direct fascistization of Ukrainian society," the lawmaker told TASS on Thursday. "The Kiev City Council has brought shame upon itself forever," Klintsevich stressed.

He suggested calling all the deputies who voted for the decision by their names. "As of now, not a single normal person should shake hands with them," the Russian deputy concluded.

Yuri Sirotyuk, a Kiev City Council deputy, has written on his page in Facebook that 87 out 97 deputies voted for the decision to rename the Moscow Avenue in Kiev into a prospect of Stepan Bandera.

They also renamed some other streets, whose names had links to Russian history. The Kutuzov Street was renamed into a street of General Almazov while the Kutuzov lane became the lane of Yevgeny Gutsalo.

According to Klintsevich, the policy of renaming streets has got nothing to do with de-communization. "All the names, which have some relation to Russia, are being erased, eliminated and crossed out," he stressed.

Klintsevich added that Russian military leader Mikhail Kutuzov, who is respected and esteemed around the globe for his military talent and also for defeating Emperor Napoleon and his army early in the 19th century, was no exception.

Earlier, Ukraine’s commission in charge of renaming streets voted for a proposal to rename the Prospect of General Vatutin into a prospect named after Roman Shukhevich, a Ukrainian political and military leader and commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Insurgency Army during WWII.