Members of the renaming commission in Mykolaiv disagreed with the position of the Institute of Memory

In Mykolaiv, members of the street renaming commission expressed surprise at the change in the position of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory<b> </b>regarding the figure of <b>Mykhailo Faleev</b>, one of the city's founders. This change relates to the application of the Law 'On Condemnation and Prohibition of Propaganda of Russian Imperial Policy in Ukraine and Decolonization of Place Names'.

Yevhen Homoniuk, a member of the Commission on Toponymy, wrote about this on his Facebook page.

The UINP has recently published updated lists of persons whose objects do or do not contain symbols of Russian imperial policy. In these new lists, some figures whose names were previously subject to decolonization are no longer considered to be associated with Russian imperial policy. In Mykolaiv, this applies to streets that have already been renamed in 2024: Faleevska, Bryullov, Herzen, Korolenko, Nekrasov, Pirogov, Pavlov, Ryleev, Chekhov, and Tsiolkovsky. As a reminder, the sculpture of Mikhail Faleev on Naberezhna was dismantled in late October 2022 to protect it from shelling.

Homonyuk recalled that earlier the Institute in its official letter (No. 1993/2.1-07.23 of 24.11.2023) advised "to refrain from glorifying him,<b>"</b> recognizing Faleev as "associated with the implementation of Russian imperial policy in southern Ukraine.

''So it looks like the Institute of National Memory has lost its memory and decided to change its previous opinion,'' Homonyuk wrote, pointing to the contradiction of the new lists with previous recommendations.

The chairman of the renaming commission, historian <b>Oleksandr Trigub</b>, commented:

"And I warned then about the certain incompetence of their answers. And I was accused of not respecting the UINP.

It is worth noting that in January 2024, the head of Mykolaiv's Department of Culture, Yurii Liubarov, already reported that Faleevska Street was not subject to mandatory renaming, as there was no evidence of its support for Russian imperial policy. At the time, his position was supported by Oleksandr Trigub.

As a reminder, in April 2023, the Mykolaiv City Council adopted a new regulation on renaming place names, planning to get rid of all names associated with Russian history.

Катерина Глушко