Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, Rostyslav Karandiev, announced on social media that the Ministry has declared a former cultural heritage site, the Monument marking the unification of Ukraine with the Russian Federation, as not eligible for inclusion in the State Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine. According to him, the monument has lost its status as a historical landmark and may be dismantled.
«By getting rid of this monumental ‘game’, we are freeing ourselves from the remnants of Soviet dictatorship and Russian imperial influence,» emphasized Karandiev.
Decommunization in Ukraine
In May 2022, the «Friendship of Nations» Arch in Kyiv was decommunized. The decision was voted on by the Kyiv City Council, renaming the object to the Arch of Liberty of the Ukrainian People.
Previously, in April of the same year, work was carried out to dismantle the monument marking the «unification of Ukraine with Russia», which was located under the arch then still called «Friendship of Nations».
Experts from the Institute of National Memory noted that the myth of the «unification» of Ukraine with the Russian Federation, to which the monument was dedicated, does not correspond to historical realities, but was used alongside the ideology of Kyivan Rus as the «cradle of brotherly nations» during Soviet times. Thus, Soviet propaganda sought primarily to erase the memory of Ukrainian state traditions (such as the times of the National Liberation War of 1648-1657 and the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917-1921), explain the experts.
