DECOMMUNISATION, YELISAVETGRAD AND THE THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY

Kirovograd is the regional centre in Ukraine in 1939 – 2016, which bore the name of an odious leader of the CPSU (b) S. M. Kirov (Kostrikov) (1886 – 1934). Kirov city was renamed by this title during the formation of the Kirovograd region in 1939, which was listed on maps USSR in 1934 – 1939. The city was called Zinovievsk in 1924 – 1934. Kirovograd city of Kirovograd region was renamed the city Kropyvnytskyi on 14 July 2016. The historical name of this city is Yelisavetgrad. The research is an attempt to show the complicated and controversial process of decommunization of Kirovohrad – one of the two regional centers in Ukraine, which necessarily had to change the name of the Law of Ukraine “On the condemnation of Communist and National Socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes in Ukraine and the prohibition of propaganda of their symbolism”, which commenced on 21 May 2015. Since the problem of the renaming of Kirovohrad at the time of the adoption of this law was not new to residents of the regional centre, the author based on newspaper articles and personal memoirs recreate the story discussion about renaming the city, which continued in 1989 – 2016. The researcher identifies several periods in the discussion above, that was in the city between the supporters of the idea of the return the historical name and those townspeople who fought for the right to name Kirovograd by the new Ukrainian name. The author identifies negative tendencies that crystallized between opponents in the debate, which, in his opinion, in the current political conditions prevailing in Ukraine, harm to anyone who seeks to build a European, democratic and highly cultured country. The author disagrees with the opponents' thesis that the name Yelisavetgrad is a threat to national security as it perpetuates the subject of the Ukrainian lands being part of the Russian Empire, and considers that there are other real threats, such as the lack of Ukrainian bookstores in the city, the state program and public publishing policy, the mass exodus of young people to study or work abroad, etc.