Muscovites are against renaming Voikovskaya metro station — named after the controversial Bolshevik revolutionary who played a key role in the decision to execute Russia's last imperial family — because they are used to it, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in an interview with Moskva FM radio station Wednesday.
"My attitude [toward renaming it] is irrelevant. It's important that the residents agree to it, but so far they've been telling me: 'Don't touch our [metro] station, we're used to it,'" he said.
Sobyanin added that public hearings about the possible renaming had been carried out and showed that Muscovites were not keen on the idea.
Earlier this year a municipal deputy from the northwest Voikovsky district, Alexander Zakondyrin, submitted a proposal to City Hall to rename the area and organize an online referendum, during which Muscovites would choose a new name for the metro station, the district and several streets carrying Pyotr Voikov's name.
His initiative was supported by the Russian Orthodox Church, surviving members of the Romanov royal dynasty and the Moscow Helsinki Group human rights organization.
Sobyanin said at the time that city authorities would consider renaming the metro station, but only if Muscovites stood behind the idea.
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