The Odesa City Council voted to dismantle and transfer to the local art museum the monument “Founders of Odessa”, on which a statue of the Russian empress Catherine II the Great is installed, reports Meduza.

According to the transcript of the meeting, which the local council published on its Telegram channel, 43 out of 44 elected members voted for this decision. Councilors also voted to remove a monument to Alexander Suvorov, an 18th-century Russian general who is considered one of the greatest military leaders in Russian history.

Councilor Oleksandra Kovalchuk, who also holds the position of deputy director of this museum, proposed to transfer both monuments to the Odesa Art Museum. However, she did not participate in the voting.

Kovalchuk proposed this measure after the authorities initially wanted to transfer both monuments to communal enterprises that take care of city cemeteries and fountains.

Earlier, in September, the mayor of Odesa proposed to create a park “of the imperial and Soviet past”, where part of the city’s architectural monuments will be moved.

Volodymyr Zelenskyi personally contributed to the removal of the statue

Local councilors approved the proposal to hand over the two statues after both were repeatedly vandalized in recent months.

At the beginning of November, an executioner’s hood was placed on the head of the statue of Catherine the Great, and a rope was placed in the right hand.

In August, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a petition with a proposal to dismantle her monument and asked the local council to discuss this issue.

The move is part of a broader “derussification” campaign being waged in Ukraine, as well as in other neighboring states, in response to Moscow’s military aggression.

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