The toponymic commission of St. Petersburg advocated naming one of the city bridges in honor of Akhmat Kadyrov. The corresponding recommendation was sent to Governor Georgy Poltavchenko

Bridge over the Duderhof Canal, May 28, 2016 (Photo: Evgeny Stepanov/TASS)

The toponymic commission of St. Petersburg recommended that Governor Georgy Poltavchenko name the nameless bridge across the Duderhof Canal after the first president of Chechnya, Akhmat Kadyrov, reports . Fontanka

The decision was made by secret ballot. Nine commission members spoke in support of naming the facility after Kadyrov, six voted against it, and two more abstained. During the meeting, St. Petersburg deputy Maxim Reznik proposed postponing the vote and discussing the issue with experts; nine people supported him, but at the last moment, commission member Galina Nikitenko said that she voted “under pressure.”

Director Alexander Sokurov spoke out against giving the bridge the name of Kadyrov. Before the start of the meeting, his letter was handed over to the governor’s reception by deputy Boris Vishnevsky, Interfax reports . “By chance, I became aware of plans to name one of the bridges in St. Petersburg after Kadyrov. This decision caused me extreme concern,” Sokurov’s statement emphasizes. Director Oleg Basilashvili also opposed the initiative, Vishnevsky wrote on his Facebook account.

Some members of the Toponymic Commission previously stated that they were called to Smolny several times to ask them to speak out in support of naming the bridge after Kadyrov. According to the deputy chairman of the commission, Andrei Zonin, he was called to see the head of the culture committee, Konstantin Sukhenko, and vice-governor Vladimir Kirillov, but he refused the visit. Local historian Andrei Ryzhkov, a member of the commission, also complained that “propaganda work is really being carried out” among the experts.

However, some other members of the commission did not confirm the information about the campaign. Thus, former vice-governor Vladimir Yakovlev said that no one asked him to vote for the initiative, but he himself was not going to vote. At the same time, according to Fontanka, some members of the commission said that they could leave it after a conversation with the vice-governor.

According to TASS , the initiative to name the bridge after Kadyrov was taken by the public organizations “Mercy”, “Nevskie Berega” and the sports movement “Strong Russia”. The first attempt to consider the issue was made by the Toponymic Commission a week ago, when experts spoke out against this measure. Earlier, St. Petersburg deputy Vitaly Milonov proposed naming one of the city streets after Kadyrov. However, Poltavchenko opposed this, emphasizing that he could name a street in honor of a particular person only if he was connected with the city. At the same time, he instructed the Culture Committee to study the possibility of naming one of the objects in St. Petersburg after Kadyrov.

The commission, headed by Vice-Governor Vladimir Kirillov, includes 24 people . The decisions of the commission , as Interfax writes , are made by a majority of votes; for a quorum, the presence of more than half of the members is required.

The commission in St. Petersburg recommended naming the bridge in honor of Akhmat Kadyrov