Sculptures of the heroes of the novel "The Twelve Chairs" were demolished in Kharkov

Monuments to the heroes of the novel "The Twelve Chairs" created by Odessa writers Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov have been demolished in Kharkiv. About it on Saturday, September 21, reports the Ukrainian agency UNIAN.

"In Kharkov removed sculptures of characters from the novel "12 chairs", which was written by natives of Odessa", - stated in the message in Telegram-channel.

It is noted that the statues of Ostap Bender, Kisa Vorobyaninov and Ella Shchukina were removed on Yaroslav the Wise Street. According to the agency, this happened as part of the decommunization process, specifies "Gazeta.Ru".

The novel "The Twelve Chairs" was written in the late 1920s and entered the classics of Russian literature.

The day before it was reported that the authorities of Odessa decided to demolish the monument to Russian poet Alexander Pushkin in the city center.

Earlier, on August 23, the mayor of Odessa Gennady Trukhanov opposed the demolition of the monument to Pushkin. According to the mayor of Odessa, European tourists come to the city, who know who Pushkin is.

Back in July, Trukhanov also opposed the demolition of monuments to Pushkin and Vorontsov, noting that the Ukrainian authorities are acting too radically in the demolition of all monuments associated with the Soviet and Russian heritage.

In May, Ukraine's Ministry of Culture and Information Policy (MCIP) reported that in the four months of 2024, the status of cultural heritage monument was revoked from 215 monuments that the Kiev authorities considered to epitomize "Russian imperial policy."

The policy of so-called decommunization in Ukraine began in 2015 within the framework of the law "On Condemnation of Communist and Nazi Regimes". It prescribes demolition of monuments, dismantling of memorial plaques, renaming of all topographical objects whose names are associated with the USSR or Russia; this policy became especially acute after the start of the Russian Federation ' s special operation to defend Donbass in February 2022.