On Monday, “initiative groups” began polling public opinion in Volgograd regarding the return of the city to its old name – Stalingrad, TASS reports.
Oleksandr Strukov, the head of the Volgograd Council of Veterans and one of the initiators of the initiative, said that the decision to hold a referendum on this issue will be made next week based on the results of the survey.
“Starting today, initiative groups will work in the microdistricts of the city [Volgograd] to study public opinion. Today we have a district – Dzerzhynskyi. Tomorrow the groups will work in three districts. And so on until the end of the week,” he told TASS.
He explained that the poll of public opinion regarding the return of the name Stalingrad will take place in the form of a meeting with “public organizations”, and on Monday, a meeting with more than 100 people is planned in this form.
A referendum on the return of the name “Stalingrad” in Russia is possible
One of the Russian state news agencies TASS reminds that the veterans of Volgograd “took the initiative to return the historical name of the hero city”, and the governor of the region of the same name Andriy Bocharov announced the creation of a public council to study the issue in response to their request.
Bochearov also said that based on the activities of this council, it will be decided whether or not to submit this issue to a referendum.
From 1589 to 1925, the city was called Tsaritsyn, then it was renamed Stalingrad. One of the most famous battles of the Second World War took place here, resulting in the encirclement and destruction of most of the German and Allied forces in and around the city.
The city was renamed Volgograd in 1961 as part of the de-Stalinization process initiated by former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
But in recent years, Russia has launched a broad campaign to rehabilitate Stalin and the Soviet period in the country’s history, and efforts in this regard intensified after the start of the war in Ukraine.
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Source: Hot News
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