Russian officials criticized Ukraine’s talk of changing Russia’s official name to Muscovy, after a Ukrainian petition on a possible name change garnered 25,000 signatures.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly He instructed Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal to “carefully” consider changing the name from Russia to Muscovy, taking into account the consequences under international law and whether it was possible in historical and cultural contexts.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement published on Telegram on Saturday that Zelensky is trying to create an “anti-Russia Ukraine”.
Dmitry Medvedev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin and vice president of Russia’s Security Council, also reacted to the news, saying they will not consider changing the name, according to The New Voice of Ukraine.
“The kyiv Nazi Supreme (Zelensky) was instructed to solve the problem of changing the name of Russia to Muscovy. Well what can I say? Our answer? No, of course not,” Medvedev said.
The petition notes that the name “Moscovy” was “used in European and some Asian languages” and appeared “on many historical maps of the 16th-19th centuries, which were produced in Europe before and after the renaming of the Muscovite Empire to All “. -Russian empire.”
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
