The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine legalized the term "rashism", 281 deputies voted for the resolution "On the use of the ideology of rashism by the political regime of the Russian Federation, condemnation of the principles and practices of rashism as totalitarian and misanthropic". This was announced in his Telegram channel by the deputy of the Rada Oleksiy Goncharenko.
Russia's war against Ukraine revealed to the world the essence of Vladimir Putin's political regime as a "neo-imperial, totalitarian dictatorship that follows the worst practices of the past and embodies the ideas of fascism and national socialism in the modern version of Russian fascism (rashism)", the explanatory note specifies.
The Verkhovna Rada plans to appeal to the Prosecutor General's Office, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, so that they "immediately" take "measures to respond to manifestations of the ideology and policy of rashism on the territory of Ukraine." The parliament also plans to appeal to the international community with a proposal to declare the political regime in Russia "rashism".
The deputies of the Rada have collected definitions and characteristics of the current Russian government in the text of the document, the BBC Ukrainian Service reports .
Earlier, Zelensky signed a law on the “decolonization of place names”, which prohibits assigning names associated with Russia to geographical objects and streets in the country.
In 2022, a few months after the Russian invasion, the Verkhovna Rada also passed a law on "restricting the public use of the musical product of the aggressor state." It prohibits the broadcasting of Russian music in the media and in public places. The requirement applies to songs by performers who have had Russian citizenship since 1991. Another law prohibits the distribution in Ukraine of books and other publishing products from Russia, Belarus and the occupied territories of Ukraine.
Also, since May 2015, a law on decommunization has been in force in Ukraine, which prohibits the promotion of communist symbols. Monuments to Soviet statesmen are being dismantled in the country, streets and cities are being renamed. So, Dnepropetrovsk was renamed Dnipro, and Kirovograd – Kropyvnytskyi.