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Bust of Yury Gagarin dismantled in Kiev in Ukrainian ‘decommunization’ drive

The granite bust had been installed in the late 1960s in the courtyard of the Center of Technical Creativity and Career Counseling for School-Aged Youth in the Darnitsa District of the Ukrainian capital

MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. A bust of Soviet cosmonaut Yury Gagarin was dismantled in Kiev, the "Decolonization. Ukraine'' ("Dekolonizatsiya. Ukraina") Telegram channel reported, with an attached photograph showing only the empty pedestal remaining.

The granite bust had been installed in the late 1960s in the courtyard of the Center of Technical Creativity and Career Counseling for School-Aged Youth in the Darnitsa District of the Ukrainian capital. To commemorate Gagarin’s visit to Kiev on April 23, 1966, a memorial plaque was placed on April 12, 1972 at the Kievlyanka Knitting Mill, which the celebrated cosmonaut visited because he was formally enrolled in one of the plant’s workshops at the initiative of its staff. In addition, Gagarin took part in the 20th Congress of the Ukrainian Komsomol (Young Communist League - TASS), which was held in Kiev.

Ukraine’s campaign against Soviet and Russian monuments began in 2015 after the enactment of a law on so-called "decommunization." By early 2022, the authorities had demolished over 2,500 monuments and changed the names of more than 900 communities and about 50,000 streets.

In 2022, Ukraine saw the launch of a new nationwide surge of efforts to erase everything reminiscent of Russian and Soviet history and culture. The Ukrainian Ministry of Culture announced that 9,859 place names were changed and 145 monuments associated with Russia dismantled. According to the Culture Ministry, last year in Ukraine 28 monuments to the poet Alexander Pushkin, nine to writer Maxim Gorky, four to Field Marshall Alexander Suvorov and another four to writer Nikolay Ostrovsky were dismantled. Over 20 monuments to Soviet soldiers were also demolished.

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