Residents of Volgograd treat idea of renaming airport to "Stalingrad" as populism

The initiative to rename the Volgograd airport to "Stalingrad" is inappropriate. This opinion was voiced by political analysts and activists interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot". According to them, the authorities speculate on the "Stalingrad" topic.

The proposal to rename the international airport as "Stalingrad" was voiced by veterans of World War II and supported by Andrei Bocharov, Governor of the Volgograd Region. This was reported by the regional administration.

Edgar Petrosyan, an activist of the All-Russian People's Front, has criticized the proposal to rename the airport.

Ivan Kourilla, a native of Volgograd, Professor at the European University in Saint Petersburg, has treated the proposal on airport renaming as inappropriate.

"The initiative of renaming looks like an attempt to divert attention from urgent problems. The politics of symbols always provokes fierce debates, but it is relatively cheap and thus convenient for the authorities," Ivan Kourilla has added.

However, political analyst Alexander Saighin has noticed that the Governor and war veterans "just expressed a wish to rename the airport." "It is more difficult to rename an airport than to rename a city with a million of inhabitants. Firstly, the airport is privately owned. Secondly, airports are usually named after the locations where they are situated," the political analyst has explained.

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