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Ukrainian official suggests turning Soviet monument into LGBT symbol

The Peoples' Friendship Arch in Kiev was unveiled in 1982 to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Soviet Union and the reunification of Ukraine with Russia in 1654

MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/. The head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory has proposed turning the Peoples' Friendship Arch in Kiev into a symbol of the LGBT movement (outlawed in Russia as extremist), Strana news outlet reported on Monday.

"Let’s leave the arch and turn it into a rainbow to represent the LGBT [movement] as we did in 2017 (when Kiev hosted the Eurovision song contest) or just a symbol of a rainbow above the water," Strana quoted Anton Drobovich as saying.

He also suggested turning the arch into a water slide or something else to avoid dismantling it.

The Peoples' Friendship Arch in Kiev was unveiled in 1982 to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Soviet Union and the reunification of Ukraine with Russia in 1654.

The Ukrainian authorities considered demolishing the arch in 2015-2017 but the job was considered too costly and postponed. The monument was later renamed the Arch of Freedom of the Ukrainian People.

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