UKRAINE-CRISIS/REBEL-MUSEUM Museum glorifying separatists in eastern Ukraine opens in St. Petersburg

Record ID: 143541

  • Title: UKRAINE-CRISIS/REBEL-MUSEUM Museum glorifying separatists in eastern Ukraine opens in St. Petersburg
  • Date: 17th August 2015
  • Summary: ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) ENTRANCE TO 'NOVOROSSIYA MUSEUM' SIGN READING (Russian): 'WORLD OF WAR / NOVOROSSIYA / NOVOROSSIYA MUSEUM IN ST. PETERSBURG' MUSEUM INTERIOR, SIGN ON FLAG READING (Russian): 'PARTY OF REGIONS 2012' MILITARY EQUIPMENT IN BOX VARIOUS OF VISITOR WATCHING EXHIBITION MILITARY INSIGNIA LAID OUT ON UKRAINIAN FLAG BELTS WITH UKRAINIAN TRID
  • Embargoed: 1st September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA6S9NAKOCUAS7ACW30GVYDNMMD
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The Russian version of the conflict in eastern Ukraine is manifested in a newly established exhibition in the city of St. Petersburg.
    The Novorossiya Museum, named using the term 'New Russia' Russia uses for Donetsk and Luhansk rebel-held regions in Ukraine, presents artifacts brought from the front line, ranging from remains of shells and damaged body armour to flags and insignia.
    According to the museum's official website, the exhibition is devoted to 'the glory of Russian warriors' and is meant to promote Russia's position in the military conflict.
    German Vladimirov, one of the exhibition organisers, said he wanted to honour the memory of the pro-Russian fighters died on the battlefield.
    "My brother fights in Luhansk People's Republic. There was a fight in February in which he was nearly killed, and I had an idea to commemorate ordinary guys, not those media personalities, whom we see every day on TV, but ordinary people who are not known to anybody, but who met a heroic death on Donbass land," he said.
    The cellar that hosts the exhibition is made to represent underground shelters that people in eastern Ukraine used to escape from shelling.
    Walking around piles of broken bricks, Vladimirov shows visitors parts of shells stuck in the ground and in the walls, and tells his story of each item.
    Yury Gorchakov, a volunteer who searches for new exhibits for the museum, said the main objective is to tell foreign tourists the real story.
    "It (the exhibition) is necessary first of all for the European guests of our city to come here and see with their own eyes what is going on there (in eastern Ukraine)," he said, standing next to the table, where the patches of Ukrainian battalions were laid out on the yellow and blue flag.
    The members of the project also collect humanitarian aid for the people in the rebel-held areas. One of the volunteers and the head of the museum's press service, Darya Del, said she could not stand on the sidelines.
    "When I came here I had no idea of what happens there, and only when I studied it deeper, I realised that I am not indifferent, I want to help people, even if I do it from here," she said, packing clothes that would be sent to Ukraine's east.
    Vladimirov also participates in other projects promoting the rebellion in east Ukraine, including an exhibition of drawings by Donetsk and Luhansk artists, that opened on August 11 and will be open until September 20.
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