Posted at 12:16 p.m.
Dear readers,
Counting from today, The Press will use the name Kyiv rather than Kiev in its texts, maps and graphics.
By an effect of use which had, alas, not been questioned in recent years, the Ukrainian capital is commonly called Kiev in most Western media. And this, despite the geopolitical changes that should have prompted us to review this habit.
Kiev is indeed the Russian name, which sticks to the city because of its Russian, then Soviet past.
But the Russian invasion sheds a harsh light on this outdated usage since the country’s independence in 1991, and the official abandonment four years later of this name of Slavic origin in favor of the Ukrainian name, Kyiv (or Kyïv ).
UN recognition followed in 2012.
For all sorts of good reasons (The Press is not a combat journal and follows customs rather than imposing them) and bad (the agency texts that we receive and publish favor Kiev), we had not yet adopted this change in terminology.
As of last Friday, the language adviser of The Press, Lucie Côté, launched the reflection on the use of the names Kiev, Kharkov and Lvov. The widespread use of Russian names in the maps and charts of some agencies has complicated this and slowed down this change, so that we were still using this toponymy yesterday.
A situation that has displeased many of our readers, with good reason. “Each time the Ukrainians see ‘Kiev’ in your texts, they get goosebumps in a context where their compatriots are fighting to protect their rights in Ukraine”, wrote Yury Monczak for example.
The choice to favor Kyiv (as well as Kharkiv and Lviv) can therefore be seen as support for a democratic country targeted by a barbarian invasion, but it first aims to normalize a situation that this crisis forces us to consider, albeit belatedly, we recognize it.
Francois Cardinal
Assistant Editor