Donetsk, Nov 7 - DAN. More than 3,500 monuments to the Russian Revolution leader Vladimir Lenin have been dismantled or damaged during the decommunisation in Ukraine, while Donetsk residents averted the demolition of Lenin statues in the city considering them an important part of their historic heritage.
Donetsk News Agency reporters drove around Donetsk counting 20 monuments to the leader of world proletariat.
Today DAN presents its photos of Donetk’s Lenin monuments in the run-up to the 100th anniversary of the 1917 October revolution, a major political event of the 20th century.
“This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Great October Revolution, and we, the Republic's residents, respect and cherish our history. Donbass has always taken good care of monuments and memory of historical events. Regrettably, a lot of monuments in Ukraine have been destroyed,” DPR’s acting Culture Minister Mikhail Zheltyakov told DAN.
There is at least one monument in every Donetsk district. The largest is located on central Lenin Square. It is a 7.5-meter high statue of the Bolshevik leader with a pylon next to it. The year 2017 marks half a century since the monument was erected.
In May 2015, Ukraine enforced the law on denouncing the Communist and the Nazi regimes, banning the propaganda of Soviet symbols. The law envisions changes of symbols of political parties and mass media, dismantling of monuments and renaming of settlements bearing the names of Soviet statesmen. *jk