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Ukrainian president tells premier to study possibility of renaming Russia to Muscovy

Vladimir Zelensky gave such an instruction, since the petition to rename Russia gained the necessary 25 thousand signatures for its consideration.

MOSCOW, March 11. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky tasked Prime Minister Denis Shmygal with "carefully studying" the possibility of renaming Russia to Muscovy in the Ukrainian language.

The instructions came as a response to a petition that gathered 25,000 signatures on Zelensky’s website, and therefore was submitted for consideration to the president of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian president asked Shmygal to study whether the move is possible in the historic and cultural context, and what consequences it may entail in terms of the international law.

The petition also suggests replacing the term ‘Russian Federation’ with the ‘Moscow Federation,’ and the demonym ‘Russian’ with ‘Muscovite.’

A proposal to rename Russia to Muscovy was voiced by the Kiev city council in January 2022, following similar initiatives put forward by regional authorities from the Ukrainian regions of Lvov and Rovno in December 2021.

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