Stalingrad may appear on the map of Russia

      There has been talk of renaming Volgograd to Stalingrad for years. Another stream of initiatives to return the city of Stalingrad began in the year of the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. However, the majority of the townspeople themselves speak out against the renaming, the portal writes. novostivolgograda.ru . He recalls that back in 2002, Vladimir Putin was asked what he thought about this, to which the president replied that such a step could give rise to suspicions of a revival of Stalinism in Russia, and this would hardly benefit the country.

      Meanwhile, the president regularly receives appeals from various activists on the topic of renaming Volgograd. Some are asking for the old name to be returned to the city, others are conjuring not to allow this. Putin himself expressed his opinion 23 years ago and has not changed it since — the decision should be made by the residents of Volgograd. The same point of view was expressed by Governor Andrei Bocharov.

      Most professional opinion polls on the subject of renaming indicate that the majority of Volgograd residents oppose the return of the name Stalingrad to the city. The lion's share of people living in the city and region today have lived in Volgograd all their lives or most of it and have already become accustomed to this name. It evokes certain associations in them and is perceived as something close and dear.

      There is also a strong argument against renaming the city economically: renaming the city will entail significant costs for changing signage, documents, maps and other official materials.

      At the same time, most Russians associate Volgograd with the present and symbolize the peaceful development of the city. But Stalingrad is also most often perceived as a symbol of military fortitude and the citadel of the Great Victory.

      There were also those who argued in favor of renaming. The main and main message of Stalingrad supporters is the return of the city's name, which has a sacred meaning for the whole country (and indeed the whole world). The arguments of supporters of renaming the city to Stalingrad — this will contribute to the development of patriotism in the country. Although Volgograd is still considered the center of patriotic education in Russia, and the current name of the city does not interfere with the implementation of a huge number of activities in this direction.

      In other Russian cities, on the contrary, there is a tendency to move away from the Soviet legacy. Many settlements that bore the names of famous personalities of the Soviet era eventually changed their names to more modern ones, just in order not to cling to the past and move on. Kalinin and Gorky, for example, returned to their historical names Tver and Nizhny Novgorod in 1990. And in 1991, Kuibyshev turned into Samara for the same reason.

      Of the regional centers that still bear the names of historical figures, only Kirov and Ulyanovsk remain (plus the Sverdlovsk Region, although Yekaterinburg is the administrative center). But these names have been preserved since Soviet times. In modern Russia, there have been no cases of the return of the old Soviet name of the city yet.

      Interestingly, the real historical name of Volgograd would still be more correct to consider Tsaritsyn - that's how the city was called initially and for the longest time, for 336 years (1589-1925). He was Stalingrad for 36 years (1925-1961), and Volgograd has been in existence for 64 years. It is curious that the very word "Volgograd" was coined by the famous poet Velimir Khlebnikov, who in 1913 proposed calling his native Astrakhan that way because residents spend too much time on the river. But in the end, Volgograd became a different city. In 1961, Stalingrad was renamed to finally get away from the cult of Stalin's personality. Meanwhile, in 2017, Vladimir Zhirinovsky also advocated renaming Volgograd to Stalingrad in order to pay tribute to the participants of the Battle of Stalingrad. He emphasized that he associated this name with the great battle, and not with Stalin. However, a few months later, the politician changed his mind and stated that he supported the return of the original names of cities throughout the country, so Volgograd should be renamed Tsaritsyn.

      By the way, there are only 5 cities in Russia whose names are associated with the longest river in Europe. Two of them, Volgograd and Volzhsky, are located in the Volgograd region, and two more (Zavolzhsk and Privolzhsk) are located in the Ivanovo region. And another one, Volzhsk, is located in the Republic of Mari El. But Volgograd stands alone in this list - it is the only regional center named after the Volga.

      Anyway, there is no definite decision on renaming yet. By the way, the initiatives to rename Kirov to Vyatka have also subsided.