Paul Goble
Staunton, April 23 – Yekaterina Kuznetsova, one of the five non-Russians on the Platform for Dialogue with Russian Democratic Forces within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, is calling for PACE and other European institutions to restore the name Ingria to what Moscow now calls Leningrad Oblast.
An ethnic Vod who now heads the Ingria House in Estonia’s border city of Narva, lays out her arguments in an appeal to PACE members (t.me/ingerimaja/7276 reposted at region.expert/ingria-lenobl). While it has been overshadowed by the declaration of Russian members of this platform, it may have more immediate consequences.
Below is the full text in English as prepared by Kuznetsova:
On Changing the Name of Leningrad Oblast on European Maps
In the languages of the indigenous peoples of this territory, most of what is now Russia’s Leningrad Oblast historically bore the name Ingria (Ingeri, Inkeri, Inkerimaa). After the region became part of Sweden in the early 17th century, it was officially called Ingermanland.
This name remained in use for some time even after the region was conquered by the troops of Tsar Peter I and the founding of the city of Saint Petersburg. In 1725, Ingermanland Governorate was renamed Saint Petersburg Governorate. However, the Finnish-speaking indigenous population of the region continued to call their homeland Ingria.
In 1924, the former capital of the Russian Empire was renamed Leningrad, and the surrounding lands became known as Leningrad Oblast, in honor of Vladimir Lenin.
In 1991, by decision of Leningrad’s residents in a referendum, the city was restored to its historical name, Saint Petersburg. However, by that time the city and the surrounding region were separate administrative units, and as a result the official name «Leningrad Oblast» has remained to this day.
Since 2000, a dictatorial regime under Putin has formed and consolidated in Russia. A revival of imperial ideology began. All national autonomies have effectively reverted to the status of disenfranchised colonies. Moreover, the Kremlin has launched an active campaign against any movements advocating for the rights of indigenous peoples. In Leningrad Oblast, this campaign has led to a ban on even mentioning the word «Ingria». It has been removed from official Russian textbooks; Ingrian Finns have been denied recognition as an indigenous people; and in 2025, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria, which had existed in the region since 1611, was renamed the Russian Lutheran Church by government directive.
Something
similar occurred in the 19th century under the ideology of the Russian Empire.
As part of Russification and the suppression of national liberation movements,
the official use of the names Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus was banned.
Instead, terms such as the Vistula Land and the Northwestern Krai were
introduced. As is well known, this attempt by imperial ideologues to erase the
historical names of vast regions ultimately failed. Today’s map
includes independent Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus.
In a similar manner, the authorities of modern Russia now falsely claim that Ukraine «never existed».
We propose that, as part of supporting policies of decolonization and resisting the Kremlin’s imperial narratives, European countries begin using the historically accurate name «Ingria» instead of «Leningrad Oblast» on their maps. There are precedents for such changes.
For example, in recent years some European countries have begun referring to Georgia by its historical Georgian name, Sakartvelo. A similar situation exists with the largest region of the Russian Federation—Yakutia—which in the 1990s restored its historical name, Sakha.
Ingria is not just the correct historical name of the region. It is a symbol of the struggle for decolonization and for freedom from Russia’s aggressive and deceptive imperial ideology. We ask for your support!
For background on the Ingria movement and its constituent units, including the Vods, see Ott Kurs , “Ingria: The Broken Landbridge Between Estonia and Finland,” GeoJournal 33.1 (1994): 107–113; Ian Matley, “The Dispersal of the Ingrian Finns,” Slavic Review 38:1 (1979): 1-16; windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2021/12/ingermanlanders-launch-podcast-to.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2021/09/ingermanland-activists-open-house-in.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/09/ingria-will-be-free-petersburg-hip-hop.html, www.windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2021/07/two-other-baltic-republics-remembered.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2019/07/a-new-aspirant-to-be-fourth-baltic.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2016/06/regionalism-threatens-russia-today-way.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2016/05/by-attacking-free-ingria-leader-moscow.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/10/window-on-eurasia-ingermanland-is-ready.html.
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