Residents of the Russian city of Ryazan have started a petition to name a street after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
“The recently elected U.S. President Donald Trump is a big friend of Russia and a defender of traditional values,” the petition launched on Change.org said.
The authors of the petition propose to rename an existing street in their city called Bezbozhnaya, which is Russian for “Godless,” — presumably a legacy of Soviet rule.
“In itself the name 'Godless' contradicts Russian values and is offensive to the feeling of religious people,” the petition says.
On Friday, the petition had gathered 74 signatures, 26 short of the number required before the petition is sent to the city's local administration.
“With a street named after Donald Trump we can make Ryazan great again,” said one comment beneath the petition, playing on the GOP candidate's electoral slogan. “This will strengthen the friendship between our two brotherly nations,” said another.
Not everyone was equally enthusiastic. Echoing some Kremlin officials' own warnings that it is too soon to conclude a Trump presidency will be to Russia's advantage, one person wrote:
“You should've at least waited for Trump to take action, because the first thing he could do is to tighten sanctions, making you look like fools, but that would be nothing new.”
