‘There will be no forgiveness’

“Ukraine must finally purge itself of the symbols of a regime that destroyed millions of innocent people,” he said, adding that 400 such monuments had been taken down in the past year.

Not everyone agrees with the president’s steps. The Head of the State Archives, Olha Ginzburg, a member of the Communist Party, has criticized the president’s decision to publish archival documents. The president has often riled Russian leaders with his portrayal of their country as the perpetrator of horrific crimes against Ukraine during the Soviet period.

Political analysts suggest that his willingness to touch the prickly subject of Ukraine’s Soviet past has opened a can of worms which is negatively affecting his popularity, which now runs in single digits.

“Many people who benefited from the Soviet Union are still alive,” said Roman Krutsyk, president of the non-governmental organization Memorial, which documents Soviet political repressions. “But lots of people who suffered are also still alive, and relatives of those who were killed. It is essential for Ukraine as an independent state that it remembers its past.”

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Source: Kyiv Post