Stand With Ukraine was among the signatories of an opinion piece published in La Tribune Dimanche and addressed to the President of the French Republic, the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Transport, the President of the Île-de-France Region, the Mayor of Paris, and the President of RATP, the Paris public transport operator. The text proposes renaming the “Crimée” (Crimea) metro station “Crimée – Ukraine” (Crimea – Ukraine). We reproduce the full text below.
The “Crimée” metro station, located in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, has for more than a century borne the name of a territory that today stands, tragically, at the heart of contemporary European history.
Since the illegal annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014, and then the full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in 2022 by Vladimir Putin’s regime, geography has become a political and symbolic battlefield. Words, maps and even place names are being used to erase peoples, deny internationally recognized borders, and impose by force a falsification of reality.
Crimea is recognized by France, by the European Union and by the overwhelming majority of the international community as part of Ukraine’s sovereign territory. In this context, we propose that the “Crimée” station be renamed “Crimée – Ukraine”.
This gesture would be simple, educational and deeply symbolic.
It would not be about rewriting Parisian history or erasing the station’s historic name, but about adding a geographical and political clarification consistent with international law and with the values France defends: the sovereignty of peoples, the rejection of annexations by force, and solidarity with nations that have been attacked.
Paris has often known how to turn its public space into a place of memory and universal conscience. Many streets, squares and stations pay tribute to struggles for freedom, against totalitarianism and for peace.
Adding “Ukraine” to the name of the “Crimée” station would send a clear signal: France accepts neither the erasure of Ukraine not the normalization of Russian aggression.
This new name would also be a message of support to the Ukrainian people, who have for years been defending their freedom, their independence and, beyond that, a certain idea of united Europe.
We hope that this proposal will receive your attention and may be given favourable consideration by the competent authorities.
Signatories: Oleksandra Matviichuk, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Isabelle Autissier, Thierry Marx, Anastasiia Levkova, Alim Aliev, Pavlo Klimkin, Carlos Moreno, Edward Mayor, Akim Halimov, Iryna Dmytrychyn, Serge Orru, Yves Jeuland, Tamila Ravil Qızı Tasheva, Refat Chubarov, Dominique Bourg, Anastasia Mikova, Jean-François Rial, Antoine Vitkine, François Gemenne.
