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[Regnum] The Volgograd Regional Duma adopted amendments to the law on renaming the regional center. The meeting took place on November 30. This was reported by the press service of the legislative body.
The regional law on the administrative-territorial structure, which envisages holding a regional referendum in the event of a decision to consider the issue of renaming Volgograd to Stalingrad, was adopted by parliamentarians in the first and second final readings.
“I would like to emphasize that with this law we do not make a decision to rename the city of Volgograd and do not announce a referendum; we are improving the mechanism for taking into account the opinions of citizens when assigning names to settlements, as well as their renaming,” explained Chairman of the Volgograd Regional Duma Alexander Bloshkin .
He emphasized that we are talking about any settlements, and not just about Volgograd, as many interpreted.
Deputy Chairman of the Regional Duma Sergei Bulgakov noted that the bill is aimed at improving the legal mechanism.
“The issue of renaming settlements is being considered based on the opinion of the population. If the issue of renaming the regional center is considered, it is necessary to hold a regional referendum,” he clarified.
Before the amendments were made, according to the law, there was a provision that only its residents could participate in a referendum on renaming settlements.
The proposal to rename other settlements in the Volgograd region will be considered supported if more than half of those participating in the referendum vote in its favor.
As IA Regnum reported , the topic of renaming Volgograd has come up periodically over the past two years. Once again, a similar initiative was launched in January 2023. A letter with a proposal to rename the city on the occasion of the anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad, the 80th anniversary of the victory in which was celebrated on February 2, was sent by the International Union of Former Juvenile Prisoners of Fascism to the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, who heads the organizing committee for celebrating the anniversary, and the Governor of the Volgograd region Andrey Bocharov .
According to the authors of the appeal, the moment has come when the city should return its name, which gained worldwide fame in January 1943.
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that it is necessary to take a balanced approach to the initiative to rename Volgograd to Stalingrad. He emphasized that there are no discussions on this issue in the administration or at the level of the head of state. The Kremlin official also drew attention to VTsIOM polls, which say that the majority of city residents do not share this point of view.
The city has a practice of changing its name on holidays. Road signs before the anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad" Volgograd" was changed to "Stalingrad " at the entrances to the city.