Zelensky assigned a task: Can Russia be renamed Muscovy?
This is what is being asked in a petition signed by over 25,000 people
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tasked Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal to “thoroughly work out” the possibility of Russia being renamed “Moscow” in the Ukrainian language. This was reported in Zelensky’s response to the corresponding petition published on the president’s website. Zelensky gave such an instruction as the petition collected the 25,000 signatures needed for its consideration.
Zelensky asked Shmigal to examine to what extent the renaming was possible in a historical and cultural context and what international legal implications it might have. The petition also proposes that the words “Russian Federation” be replaced by “Moscow Federation”, “Russian” by “Moscow”.
In January 2022, the Kyiv City Council proposed that Russia be renamed “Moscow”. The Kyiv council became the third Ukrainian local body that wanted to rename Russia. In December 2021, deputies of the Lviv Oblast Council, at a second attempt, voted a resolution calling on the Verkhovna Rada and the President to rename Russia “Moscow” in order to “restore historical justice”. After them, the deputies of the Rivne Regional Council wanted to rename the Russian Federation, who on December 17, 2021 voted to accept the corresponding address to the president and parliament.
