Monument to Pushkin on Exchange Square in Odesa covered with boards

In Odesa, the monument to Pushkin on Exchange Square has been boarded up. The reasons for such work have not yet been reported.

This was reported by Odeske Zhyttia.

On the evening of Wednesday, October 29, in Odesa, public utilities began boarding up the monument to Pushkin, which stands near the city council building on Exchange Square.

Witnesses filmed the work and posted it on social media and local Telegram channels. The footage shows workers upholstering the monument with wooden boards. According to the media, the reasons for such actions are not yet known, and no official comments have been received from the city authorities.

Recently, the NGO Decolonization of Ukraine published an updated list of monuments that they believe should be dismantled. In addition to several monuments to Pushkin in the city, the activists' attention was drawn to monuments to Vorontsov, Alexander II, Leo Tolstoy, and Chernyakhovsky.

In August, Odesa region was among the leaders in Ukraine in terms of the number of images of Pushkin. Activists counted the monuments and memorial plaques dedicated to the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, and four such objects were found in Odesa.

In July, the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine considered activists' appeals to dismantle monuments to Pushkin in Bolhrad and Tatarbunary in Odesa region. At the same time, the ministry noted that the Odesa Regional Military Administration had not sent any official documents requesting that these monuments be removed from the list or not included in the Register.

In April, activists of the NGO "Making You Nervous" staged a performance near the bust of Alexander Pushkin on Primorsky Boulevard in the center of Odesa. They threw a noose of rope around the monument's neck, and attached an announcement to the pedestal about finding a bulldozer to dismantle it.

The action caused a conflict with passers-by: people were outraged by the actions of the activists, and they responded by advising those dissatisfied with their actions to "go to Russia." The situation attracted the attention of local media and sparked a lively discussion on social media.

Анна Бальчінос