Kyiv removes Bulgakov statue
Bulgakov statue bundled up in sandbags (Photo: Oleksandr Paskhover / Facebook)
A statue of Russian
writer Mikhail Bulgakov that stood on Andriivskyi Descent in Kyiv was
removed and handed over to the sculptor’s heir for private storage, Kyiv’s
Department of Cultural Heritage Protection said on June 4.
The transfer was carried out at the family’s request. The sculptor Mykhailo Rapai’s heir petitioned an interagency working group charged with removing objects tied to Russian and Soviet history and culture to release the work for personal safekeeping, the department said.
Kyiv’s City Council voted Dec. 18, 2025, to permanently remove the monument. The decision followed an expert opinion by the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, prepared under a Ukrainian law that condemns and bans propaganda of Russian imperial policy and requires the decolonization of place names.
According to the institute’s finding, Bulgakov is among figures that contemporary Russian propaganda uses to glorify the Kremlin’s imperial policy, and monuments to such figures should be removed from Ukrainian streets.
The institute earlier, in April 2024, officially designated
Bulgakov as a symbol of Russian imperial policy subject to mandatory
decolonization.
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