Can Ukraine rename Russia to Moscovia, and what will it achieve: exclusive details

Ukraine currently has no intention of officially renaming the name "Russia" to "Moscovia," replacing the term "Russian" with "Moscow," and "Russian Federation" with "Moscow Federation." They say that this will entail the need to rewrite all cartography and textbooks in the country, but even changing the name of the terrorist state in our society will not affect its use in the world.

OBOZ.UA received this information from the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in response to a journalistic request. Read more about what this renaming will bring, in our article.

Who initiated the renaming?

The idea to change the name of the terrorist state of Russia was submitted by Ukrainian citizens after the full-scale Russian invasion. In November 2022, a petition was posted on the website of the President's Office, which received the required number of signatures - 25,792.

On March 10, 2023, the president's response was added to the petition. According to it, Volodymyr Zelenskyi instructed Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to comprehensively study this issue, as it "requires careful consideration both in terms of the historical and cultural context and given possible international legal consequences."

How was the issue studied?

According to the response documents that OBOZ.UA received at the request of the CMU Secretariat, the Prime Minister instructed a number of ministers to study the issue of renaming Russia to Moscovia with the participation of scholars.

Among the officials on this list were Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Justice Minister Denys Malyuska, Head of the State Statistics Service Ihor Werner, First Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory Maksym Yarmystyi (now State Secretary of the Ministry of Education), and now former ministers Oleksandr Tkachenko (Culture and Information Policy) and Serhii Shkarlet (Education). In addition to the aforementioned Institute of National Remembrance, the side of scientists was also represented by the National Academy of Sciences, in particular the Institute of History of Ukraine and the Koretskyi Institute of State and Law.

They were given until March 24, 2023, to inform the author of the petition, V. Shakhvorostova, about the work done and submit a draft letter to the president to the Cabinet of Ministers.

What was decided on the renaming?

According to the CMU's letter of April 3, 2023, No. 7772/0/2-23, each of the parties involved in the issue expressed "significant reservations against renaming", citing "practical arguments of an international legal nature".

"From the point of view of international law, Ukraine's use of a different name for the Russian Federation will in no way affect the continued use by other states and international organizations of the current name of the Russian state... International standardization of geographical names should be based on appropriate standardization at the national level, where the standard of the state's self-name has unconditional priority," Shmyhal's letter to the president reads.

They acknowledged that the use of the name Moscovia has historical grounds and that there is no prohibition on such renaming within a single country. However, the authors of the review are convinced that this will entail the need to revise the entire national legal framework, mapping products, textbooks, etc.

"Given the demand of Ukrainian society to counter Russian propaganda and debunk the historical myths of the Russian Federation in order to develop an optimal solution, the issue of renaming requires in-depth study, thorough scientific research of the issue, analysis of the regulatory framework that will need to be revised, and calculation of financial losses," the response stated.

As OBOZ.UA reported, the Ukrainian initiative to rename Russia as Moscovia caused a real hysteria in Russia. Kremlin propagandists Dmitry Medvedev and Maria Zakharova splashed verbal poison on this issue.

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