A monument to Pushkin will be demolished in the center of Odesa: the order has already been signed

A monument to the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin in the center of Odesa

A monument to the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin will be demolished in the center of Odesa.

Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, reported this in an interview with City of Power.

To the journalist's question, whether they plan to demolish the monument to Alexander Pushkin, he said that the corresponding order has already been signed.

«Yes, it is also at disposal, there is a signature regarding its demolition. Today, all the letters regarding the demolition of such monuments have been distributed,» Oleh Kiper reported, but he did not disclose other details.

Back in August 2024, the mayor of Odesa, Hennadii Trukhanov, said that the monument to Pushkin in the city cannot be demolished, as it is included in the UNESCO register.

«Today, all kinds of European delegations, European tourists come, — they know who Pushkin is, and say that he was there, worked, wrote some of his works. He was here, by the way, in exile. Plus, when we submitted our motivational dossier to UNESCO, we noted, and UNESCO knows about it, that this is cultural heritage, »the mayor said.

Dismantling of the monument to Catherine II in Odesa

It is known that this is not the first time that the dispute over monuments in Odesa has arisen. Thus, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the center of attention of residents was the question of dismantling the monument to the «Founders of Odesa», part of which was the statue of the Russian empress Catherine II.

In particular, the monument was repeatedly doused with paint, disguised as a executioner, peaceful actions were held near it with calls for its dismantling. Also, in June 2022, a corresponding petition was created on the website of the President's Office, which received more than 26,500 votes in a month.

In September 2022, the Odesa City Council did not support the draft decision on dismantling and moving the monument to Empress Catherine II to the regional historical and local history museum. At the same time, the Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko supported the idea of dismantling the monument to Catherine II in Odessa. He emphasized that after the local authorities make the appropriate decision, the Ministry of Culture will definitely give its consent.

Later, the sculpture was wrapped in black polyethylene, and the monument was surrounded by a fence at the beginning of November. And already in December, the monument was dismantled.