Moscow, November 10, 2015
“Attempts to portray Voykov as an outstanding diplomat do not stand up to criticism. His place in history is not with Yevgeny Primakov and Sergei Lavrov, but together with the “Narodnaya Volya” (“The People’s Freedom” – a revolutionary organization in Russia in the early 1880s) members and the Wahhabi terrorist leaders,” the Center’s statement reads.
According to the authors of the text, in the moment when Russia has intensified its struggle with terrorism, “not dividing its adherents into “good” and “bad” ones, the attempts to justify the revolutionary terrorists sound very strange.”
“Our testimony is that they are no better than all other terrorists, and their names should not be on our capital city’s map,” the statement reads.
The authors stress that historical figures can be judged in different ways, while not going to extremes of “black legends”, but “a tolerant attitude towards terrorists, whenever they live, can never be approved.”
The Human Rights Center has noted that not only was P. Voykov involved in the murder of the Royal Family, but before the Revolution he also was “a notorious professional terrorist who was responsible for attempted assassinations of statesmen faithful to their country, and this detail of his biography is disputed by nobody.”
“Recently in the Crimea several people recieved long jail terms. Like Voykov, they justified their terrorist activity by restoration of justice and care for the people. And, one day, some country may perpetuate their memory side by side with Dzhokhar Dudayev (1944-1996; the first President of the Chechen Republic who declared its independence and separation from the Russian Federation; when Russian troops were sent to Chechnya in 1994 he headed the armed resistance) and Shamil Basayev (1965-2006; a Chechen militant islamist who led guerilla campaigns against Russian forces and organized mass hostage takings of civilians during the Chechen War). And the Russian patriots will be filled with indignation concerning this, but they will be reminded that streets of their own cities and towns are filled with the names of terrorists – Khalturin, Zhelyabov, Perovsky,” the document reads.
As was reported, early in November as part of the “Active Citizen” electronic referenda project the poll about renaming of the “Voykovskaya” Moscow metro station along with the railway station and junction with the same name was launched. The voting will last three weeks. It was organized on the initiative of Mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin.
