Leader of the Svoboda All-Ukrainian Union Oleh Tiahnybok has said that his faction has registered in parliament a bill on banning the Communist ideology.
“On the eve of November 7, Svoboda registered a bill proposing a ban on the Communist ideology, and we believe that this was done properly and at the right time,” he said from the rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday.
On November 7, communists celebrate the anniversary of the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia.
Earlier, a number of Ukrainian politicians and public figures proposed holding a referendum on banning the Communist Party and its totalitarian ideology in Ukraine.
“We will offer citizens a bill that would ban the Communist Party and its totalitarian ideology. We will also propose that this bill be adopted as a direct application law, backed during a national referendum,” said former Ukrainian lawmaker Yuriy Karmazin.
In addition to a ban on the Communist Party, the organizers propose investigating crimes committed by the Communist regime and bringing those guilty of these crimes to justice, Karmazin said.
Lawmaker Eduard Hurvits, representing the UDAR party, said an inter-faction association will be set up in parliament to deal with the referendum, and that organizing committees would be set up in all regions that, he said, should be joined by all democratic forces. He said an equal sign could be placed between Stalin’s regime in the Soviet Union and Hitler’s regime in Nazi Germany. Therefore, the crimes, committed by these regimes must be condemned and parties of this kind must be banned.
Another organizer of the referendum, leader of the Bratstvo (Fraternity) organization, said that the Communist Party is a threat, even though it holds no serious weight in Ukrainian politics, as it is the oldest parliamentary faction and has a well-developed network. “It is an ideal political instrument, unlike Medvedchuk, the Russian Bloc and other groups, which Moscow can use at any moment,” he said.
