Preparations for a referendum on the renaming of Volgograd to Stalingrad have not yet been conducted

The authorities of the Volgograd region have not yet planned to hold a referendum on the return of the regional capital of the name Stalingrad, “Kommersant” found out. Regional legislation allows a plebiscite, but does not require this unequivocally. But to clarify the opinions of residents, the majority of the State Duma factions insist, which by law is authorized to approve the decisions of the regions on the renaming of their capitals.

As Kommersant was informed on May 5 in the administration of the Volgograd region, there were no appeals with the initiative to hold a referendum on renaming to Stalingrad to them. The representative of the administration also clarified that, according to the press service of the apparatus of the governor of information, « no one collects signatures for such an initiative. »

The chairman of the Volgograd Regional Duma and the Regional Council of Veterans Alexander Bloshkin, who is considered the main ideologist of the renaming, confirmed that no preparation for the referendum is currently underway.

“Everyone knows about the decision at the airport (on April 29, Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the assignment of Stalingrad. « Kommersant »). And this is great, we still live with this, ”said Mr. Bloshkin.“ Further time will tell. ” We will do sociology. If we see that people have such a desire, that 80 percent support, then you can hold a referendum. ”

Informed source “Kommersant”, close to the leadership of the regional administration, believes that 2025 is the “last opportunity” to change the name of the city: “This is 80 years of victory and 100 years of renaming (Tsaritsyn became Stalingrad in April 1925.- « Kommersant »). After all these reasons to push, the renaming will simply not need to be pushed. So, perhaps, it is worth expecting that renaming the airport will cost. Although it is worth, of course, to wait on May 9th. ”

So far, the idea of ​​the return of Stalingrad does not enjoy the support of Volgograd residents: according to VTsIOM, in January 2023 67% of the citizens surveyed opposed this. However, at the end of the same year, amendments were amended by regional legislation, according to which a referendum on renaming, if it is initiated, will pass throughout the region, and not only in Volgograd. True, after that, the activity of the referendum preparation was actually curtailed.

According to the Federal Law “On the Names of Geographical Objects”, the renaming of the capital of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation is carried out by federal law (that is, carried out through the State Duma) on the proposal of the regional parliament. And the Volgograd law establishes that “in the case of adoption of proposal” on the renaming of the regional center of the Regional Duma, publishes an appropriate resolution, “also containing information about the possibility of implementing the initiative of the regional referendum”. At the same time, there is no direct requirement for a plebiscite in the law.

Nevertheless, most of the “Kommersant” representatives of the Duma factions after the President, who called on “to find out the attitude of the majority of the city” on April 30, also refer to the opinion of Volgograd residents.

“This is exclusively the decision of the inhabitants: both the president and the region’s authorities have repeatedly talked about this,” said Yevgeny Popov, deputy chairman of the Information Policy Committee (United Russia). “Last surveys show that there are no majority there for renaming.” Without taking into account the opinions of residents, “no one will do anything” and “no slogans, there can be no pressure from above,” the unineruss said, although “no one mind that Volgograd became Stalingrad on commemorative dates”.

The fact that the opinion of the townspeople themselves should be decisive, the leader of the “fair Russia-for truth” Sergei Mironov is sure, although he personally believes that the hero city should be returned “the historical name, because it is Stalingrad that is forever inscribed in the history of the Great Patriotic War and our victory.” “Such issues should be resolved by people in a referendum,” the vice speaker Vladislav Davankov (“New People”) agrees, who, on the contrary, is against renaming. “Supporters say that Stalingrad is a symbol of heroism. For me, Volgograd is a symbol of life that continues to be heroism thanks to this. The symbol of the future, where the memory of the war does not live instead of the future, but with it. « 

And only the Communists, who have been back for the return of the city of Stalin for many years, “categorically insist that it be renamed right now, when the war of meanings is underway,” the head of the press service of the Communist Party Alexander Yushchenko told Kommersant. He supported the idea of ​​an “honest referendum”, but expressed the opinion that “in principle, this is a question not only of citizens, but to the whole country” and “a referendum here is not much obligatory.” “In a fit, in victorious moods, everyone is one,” the deputy explained. And since this issue is political in nature, the President personally could personally make a decision, the communist believes.

By the time of publication, the LDPR did not express their position.

Yaroslav small, Volgograd; Gregory Leib