16:39, 31 May 2016

Petition against renaming Saint Petersburg’s bridge gains more than 20,000 signatures per day

In Saint Petersburg, the activistis of the Youth Yabloko held a picket against renaming a bridge after Kadyrov. May 28, 2016. Photo: Viktor Rezunkov (RFE/RL)

The authors of the petition for cancellation of the decision to rename a bridge in Saint Petersburg after Akhmat Kadyrov, the first Chechen President, are going to send it to deputies of the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly, the Governor, and the City Toponymy Commission.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Commission proposed to rename the bridge over Dudergof Channel.

"The problem is that the bridge should not be named after a person who does not have any relation to Saint Petersburg. In fact, Akhmat Kadyrov made a lot of efforts to stop the conflict in Chechnya. However, I beg your pardon, is his personality anyhow associated with Saint Petersburg?" states the text of the petition published on the "Change.org" website.

As of 6:40 p.m. of May 31, the petition gained 22,906 signatures.

Earlier, Alexander Sokurov, the film director and the People's Artist of Russia, and well-known actor Oleg Basilashvili have spoken against the idea to rename the bridge in Saint Petersburg after Akhmat Kadyrov.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.