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Ukrainian town launches contest to get rid of Soviet-era name

Some 25 Ukrainian towns are facing renaming under the new law

© ITAR-TASS/Anton Tushin

ODESSA, August 7. /TASS/. Authorities in the south Ukraine’s Kotovsk named after a Bolshevik revolution commander launched a contest on Friday seeking a new name for the town.

"The town should be renamed under the law banning Communist symbols. The ideas will be accepted by September 15," Kotovsk mayor Anatoly Ivanov said.

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He added that the winner would get a $200 prize.

Kotovsk, a town in the Odessa region, was named after Grigory Kotovsky, a Red Army general and member of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union, in 1935.

A controversial law banning propaganda and symbols of "totalitarian Communist and Nazi regimes" came into force in Ukraine in late May.

Some 25 Ukrainian towns are facing renaming under the new law.

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