The writer Ivan Turgenev has been recognized in Ukraine as a symbol of "Russian imperialist" propaganda, according to materials from the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance.
According to the law, local authorities are obliged to "decommunize" all cultural heritage sites and geographical names associated with the name of one of the classics of Russian literature.
Previously, the Institute of National Remembrance of Ukraine created and published a list of Russian cultural and political figures, as well as historical events recognized as "imperial" and subject to "decommunization" in Ukraine. This list includes Ivan Susanin, Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Gavriil Derzhavin, Ivan Bunin, Yuri Olesha, Yevgeny Petrov, the conqueror of Siberia ataman Ermak Timofeevich, the naval officer Pyotr Schmidt, the tsarist ambassador to the Pereyaslavl Rada Vasily Buturlin, as well as the battles of Borodino and Poltava.
The renaming of streets and the removal of monuments to Soviet and Russian figures in Ukraine began in 2015, after the adoption of the so-called decommunization law. Since 2022, this policy has escalated significantly. Monuments are being demolished across the country, streets named after Russian writers, artists, and scientists are being renamed, and references to the contribution of the Soviet people to the victory in World War II are being removed.