Odesa returns name of boulevard to honor Red Army marshall

Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov reported on his
Facebook page on Oct. 17 that the city’s historical-toponymic commission ruled
to restore the name of Marshall Georgy Zhukov Boulevard, reversing the 2016
decision to name it Heavenly Hundreds Boulevard in honor of those who died on
the EuroMaidan in 2014. The city council is likely to vote this week to approve
the ruling, the pravda.com.ua news site said. “We are continuing the procedure
of returning previous names to Odesa streets. These are those streets that were
earlier renamed by the personal decision of former Odesa regional governor
Mikheil Saakashvili in the framework of decommunization,” Trukhanov wrote. The
commission also ruled to return the name of 25th Chapayevskiy Division Street,
in honor of a Red Army unit that helped establish Soviet rule in 1920.

Zenon Zawada: What’s of
geopolitical importance of this otherwise minor event is that Trukhanov has
decided to use Soviet nostalgia as part of his campaign for re-election, which
he is expected to win easily. This comes straight from the political playbook
of Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Kernes, who led the effort early this year to return
the name of Red Army marshall Zhukov to one of the city’s main boulevards,
which was renamed in honor of a Soviet dissident, Petro Grigorenko, in 2016. He
wouldn’t have announced this on his Facebook page, a week ahead of the vote, if
it wasn’t effective, especially when it’s the pensioners who are the most
reliable voters.

We expect the residents of both, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s
second-largest city, and Odesa, Ukraine’s third-largest city, to give the
pro-Putin Opposition Platform For Life party among the biggest factions in
their local councils at the elections on Sunday, if not the biggest. The youth
in these cities will give the pro-presidential People’s Servant party among the
biggest factions as well. Kernes will be re-elected despite suffering from the
COVID-19 disease, and Trukhanov will be easily re-elected despite accusations
of crime and corruption.

In our view, this Soviet nostalgia is the latest
sign of Russia accomplishing its war of attrition in Ukraine. Quality of life
has been reduced so low after six years of aggression that older residents –
especially in the Russophile southeastern regions – resent the EuroMaidan and
have renewed their Soviet nostalgia. Also to blame is the failure to pursue
widescale and quicker reforms by the Poroshenko and Zelensky administrations,
which stand accused of rampant corruption as well.