Not a Single City, Town, Street or Square in Russia Bears Mikhail Gorbachev’s Name

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 2 – Given the propensity of Russians to memorialize leaders by naming places after them, it may come as a shock to learn that there is not a single city, town, street or square in the Russian Federation named after Mikhail Gorbachev; but it will surprise fewer that this reflects state policy in the age of Putin.

            On the 95^th anniversary of the first and last Soviet president’s birth, Novaya Gazeta observer Natalya Chernova says that even in Gorbachev’s home region of Stavropol, officials have continued to block efforts by his supporters to name any place after him (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2026/03/02/imeni-gorbacheva-ili-figura-umolchaniia).

            Even there, the only public recognition of Gorbachev comes in the form of a small memorial plaque on an aging school in Krasnogvadeysk that declares only “Here studied the first president of the Soviet Union.” The local historical museum contains no reference to him at all, Chernova says. Officials there say “there is no space” for personal mentions.

            The same total absence of references to the former Soviet leader is also the case in Stavropol’s regional historical museum, although it is the case that at least there is a picture of Gorbachev among Stavropol residents on the museum’s website, something likely to confuse casual visitors that Gorbachev has not been officially whited out in his home region.

            Not long ago, Georgy Lyashov, a realtor and longtime resident, “decided that Stavropol’s lack of memory [of Gorbachev] was truly indecent,” Chernova says; and he circulated a petition calling for the naming of a vacant public lot for the former Soviet leader. Officials turned him down, and he says local residents long accustomed to not having a voice haven’t taken action.

            “Residents want a park, but what it is called is irrelevant,” he says. “People here won’t do anything in Gorbachev’s memory, let alone stand in their own doorways. Indeed,” he adds, “it too me 18 months to get people in my building to come to a general homeowners association meting and sign a petition calling for replacing the doors in their building.”

            Chernova sums up Lyashov’s experience: “it’s understandable why there is no mention of Gorbachev because if we remember and honor Russia’s first present, we’ll have to talk about his perestroika, his pursuit of peace, freedom and choice.  In short, we’ll have to talk ab… about all those things the powers have been taking away from us in recent years.