Ukraine renames Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 into Second World War

The Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament) has passed amendments to the law on the status of veterans of wars. The word combination "Great Patriotic War" will disappear from the document - it will be replaced with the "Second World War."

Word combination "Second World War" will replace phrases "Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945," "Great Patriotic War," "Great Patriotic War and War with Japan," "Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 and the 1945 war with imperialist Japan."

As many as 241 MPs voted for the amendment, no one voted against it; four abstained, 90 did not vote.

The same document grants the status of a war veteran to those who participated in Maidan riots in 2013-2014 and were included on the list of those, who were injured during this period, except for police officers and military men.

After the change of power in Ukraine and Russia's reunification with the Crimea, the authorities of Ukraine have been campaigning to erase memory of its Soviet past renaming streets, settlements and cities, as well as demolishing Soviet-era monuments. This process was dubbed "decommunization."

Pravda.Ru