The moderates in the city of Stockholm want to change the name of Ryssgården – to Kyjivgården.
– To show support for Ukraine, says group leader Christofer Fjellner.
Ryssgården is the area outside the City Museum at Slussen in Stockholm.
Photo: GÖRAN GUSTAFSON / TT NEWS AGENCY
Recently, the government announced that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will stop using the form of the name “Kiev” for Ukraine’s capital, instead it will be called the Embassy of Sweden in Kyiv, i.e. with the Ukrainian and not the Russian spelling of the name. It is to show support for Ukraine.
Now the Moderates in the city of Stockholm want to change the name of Ryssgården, the area outside the City Museum at Slussen. Instead, they want it to be called Kyjivgården.
– As a symbolic act then, to show support for Ukraine, says Stockholm moderates group leader Christofer Fjellner.
He thinks that the area is located by Slussen is especially suitable.
– We want Ukraine to be visible in Stockholm’s urban environment, so it is a perfect place to do it, he says.
Christofer Fjellner is an opposition councilor and group leader for the Moderates in the city of Stockholm.
Photo: Press photo
Two birds with one stone
In addition, the Moderates want Stockholm to ratify the twinning agreement that Stockholm and Kiev had previously agreed upon. The agreement will, among other things, aim to support the Ukrainian capital in a reconstruction phase after the war.
– We think it would be a good thing to actually ratify and activate it now in connection with, for example, naming a place after Kyjiv, says Fjellner.
Does it make a difference then to change the name of a place in Stockholm?
– Yes. Certain types of support, donating Swedish fighter planes, that makes a big difference. But that shouldn’t mean that you should underestimate the other support you can give, says Fjellner.
