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Ukraine finds way to implement decommunization law without extra financing

On Tuesday, the Dnipropetrovsk government decided not to rename the city but to change the origins of the existing name

© Sergey Savostyanov/TASS

KIEV, December 29. /TASS/. Ukraine has discovered a way to follow its decommunization law without extra financing, taking the example from the city of Dnipropetrovsk, which kept its name, originally taken after Soviet figure Grigory Petrovsky and currently announced to be after Saint Apostle Peter.

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On Tuesday, the Dnipropetrovsk government decided not to rename the city but to change the origins of the existing name.

According to the city website, more than 80% of its residents opposed the name changing. Leader of the "Opposition Block" party Natalia Nacharyan said that this way budgeting for supporting the residents and restoration of municipal utilities may be saved.

In April, Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, passed a law condemning Communist and Nazi totalitarian regimes, banned their propaganda and symbols. In May, President Pyotr Poroshenko signed four relevant laws, or the so-called "de-communization package."

Under the law some 84 cities and towns, 857 villages and more than 10,000 streets, which names may be associated with Soviet figures, must be renamed.

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

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