A proposal was made in the Russian State Duma to rename St. Petersburg and Volgograd

Anzhelika Glazkova, a member of the Russian State Duma representing the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), has introduced a bill that would rename St. Petersburg to Leningrad and Volgograd to Stalingrad. According to the document, the cities must be given their new names within one year after the law takes effect.

The bill concerns the legal status of hero cities within the Russian Federation.

The explanatory note states that the bill “is intended to grant official status to hero cities within the Russian Federation.”

The authors also propose creating a legal mechanism that would allow other Russian cities, in addition to those that already have this status, to be awarded the title of “hero city.”

The second article of the bill stipulates that hero cities must retain the names they had during World War II, and renaming them is not permitted.

At the same time, the third article specifically states that within one year of the bill’s adoption, St. Petersburg and Volgograd must be restored to their former names, Leningrad and Stalingrad, respectively.

In addition, the bill provides for:

• the inclusion of the Order of Lenin and the USSR “Gold Star” Medal on the coats of arms or banners of hero cities;
• the erection in each of these cities of obelisks bearing images of the Order of Lenin and the “Gold Star” Medal.

The idea of restoring the Soviet names to St. Petersburg and Volgograd is not new.

In January 2024, Nikolai Kharitonov, who at the time was running for president of Russia as a candidate of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), proposed putting the issue of renaming St. Petersburg to Leningrad to a nationwide referendum.

Regarding Volgograd, he stated: “Volgograd, the city where the backbone of the fascist scum was finally broken, must be given back the name Stalingrad—no questions asked.”

In August 2026, on the eve of the State Duma elections, CPRF leader Gennady Zyuganov also expressed regret that Volgograd had still not been renamed Stalingrad.

However, these statements had not previously been accompanied by the submission of bills to the State Duma regarding the renaming of either city.

The last time the CPRF put forward a similar initiative was in 2015. At that time, party representatives submitted a draft resolution to the State Duma to rename Volgograd to Stalingrad.

Russian lawmakers did not support this proposal.

At the same time, “The Agency” was unable to find any previously registered bills in the State Duma regarding the restoration of the name Leningrad to St. Petersburg.

Anzhelika Glazkova was elected to the State Duma on the CPRF’s federal list representing the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Crimea, Sevastopol, as well as the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

In the previous session of the Russian parliament, she represented the Altai Krai, the Republic of Altai, and Tuva.

During her tenure in the previous convocation, Glazkova participated in drafting 57 bills submitted to the State Duma. Of these, 17 eventually became law.

Thus, the CPRF’s new initiative calls not only for the restoration of Soviet names to St. Petersburg and Volgograd but also for the establishment of specific requirements regarding the symbols and names of cities that hold the status of “hero cities.”

Earlier, the popular “Kyiv-style cutlet” was renamed in the cafeteria of the Russian State Duma. At the start of the parliament’s fall session, a new price tag appeared next to the dish, reading “cutlet with butter.”

In Kyiv, a petition was filed demanding that the name of the 18th-century Moscow Gate, located on the grounds of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, be changed. The authors of the initiative propose revising the monument’s historical name.