KIEV, January 7. /TASS/. Ukraine’s authorities should recognize the country’s years as part of the Soviet Union (1922-1991) as "occupation," head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (UINR) Vladimir Viatrovych said.
"Next year we will have a number of important events linked to the Ukrainian revolution. It will shape the society’s opinion on the connection between the modern Ukrainian state and the Ukrainian People's Republic and define the essence of the Soviet period," the historian told Channel 5.
"In the end, those theses that have been heard for a long time on the historic soil are more often voiced in the political field. This concerns the Soviet occupation and building the Bolshevik and later the Communist occupation regime," he said.
Viatrovych also said Kiev should pass laws on the legal succession of traditions of the Ukrainian People's Republic, the predecessor of modern Ukraine declared in June 1917 following the Russian Revolution.
In May 2015, Ukraine introduced a decommunization law, which outlaws Soviet symbols. In particular, it envisions renaming localities and streets named after outstanding personalities of the Soviet period. In practical terms, the decommunization law in Ukraine has resulted in the erasing of everything that might remind people of the Soviet period and of recent close ties with Russia.