Volodymyr Zelesnky is seriously considering changing Russia's name to "Muscovy", according to reports in the Ukrainian press.
The idea comes from an online petition which has already reached 25,000 signatures and which explains how «this name was used in European languages and some Asian languages», adding that «many historical maps of the 16th-19th centuries, made in Europe before and after the renaming of the Moscow kingdom into the All-Russian Empire, they also had this name».
"The issue raised in the petition requires careful consideration both in terms of historical and cultural context, and taking into account the possible international legal consequences," added Zelensky who appointed Prime Minister Denys Shmygal to follow the case.
"The historical name of Russia is Muscovy," said petition author Valeria Shakhvorostova. “And the same goes for the state entities of the Moscow principality, the Moscow kingdom and the empire. On October 22, 1721, i.e. 301 years ago, Tsar Peter I of Moscow proclaimed the kingdom of Moscow the “Russian Empire”. Russia has only existed for 301 years."
According to Shakhvorostova this confusion of names would have given reason to Moscow to make encroachments on what was once the "Rus" of Kiev. In particular for foreigners, he explained, the names Rus, Russia, seem almost identical and "this leads to confusion, fictional books are being written and films are being made in which Russia is presented as Rus, which is unacceptable".
"Such initiatives can only be treated with a smile," the sarcastic reply of Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Another answer, that of the usual Dmitry Medvedev: "The supreme Nazi of Kiev has ordered to resolve the issue of renaming Russia to Muscovy, we propose to change the name of Ukraine to Bandera's dirty Reich", a clear reference to Stepan Bandera , great protagonist of 20th century Ukrainian nationalism.
BATTLE AT BAKHMUT
The hot front of the fighting remains instead that of Bakhmut, the symbolic city of Donetsk. The founder of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that the Russian forces are located 1.2 kilometers from the administrative center of the city: "It is a five-story building where the smoke is coming from, the building of the city administration, the administrative center of the city. It is one kilometer and two hundred meters away,” Prigozhin said, who posted a video.
