“New People” proposed banning offensive names of settlements

“New People” introduced a bill to the State Duma banning offensive names of Russian constituent entities. The party also proposed to simplify the process of renaming settlements.

The bill (available to Kommersant) was introduced by the vice speaker from the New People, Vladislav Davankov. He proposes to supplement the law “On the names of geographical objects”, as well as to allow municipal authorities to rename settlements that belittle the dignity of local residents.

“We recently received a letter from the village of Shalava. There is one in the Yaroslavl region. People complain that they cannot change the name of the locality. Residents of neighboring cities laugh at them. Young people are leaving, trying to change their registration as quickly as possible. Nobody wants their children to have an offensive word on their passport. Thousands of people live in such settlements,” the party’s press service quotes Vladislav Davankov as saying.

The explanatory note notes that residents of such settlements in different parts of Russia face rude jokes, move or register in another place.

“Let people decide for themselves whether they want to live in Durkino or not. It will be easier for residents to be proud of their small homeland, and this will deter young people from moving. And we will no longer have new Massacres and Shalavs,” added the vice speaker from the New People party.

The party notes that today in Russia there are hundreds of entities with offensive names. In the Saratov region there is the village of Lokh, in the Ivanovo region – the village of Antilokhovo, in the Yaroslavl region – Shalava, Pukovo (Tver region), Musorka (Samara region), Bukhalovo (several villages in the Yaroslavl, Tver and Arkhangelsk regions), Popki in the Pskov region, and there are many other names of an offensive nature.

The explanatory note notes that children born in such settlements are subjected to bullying and insults. Their parents, as the party notes, “are forced to do everything to ensure that a different birth address and registration are indicated in their children’s passports.”

Delgir Mandzhieva