Photo: Fergananews.com

A monument to the first president of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov appeared in the center of Moscow, in the Yakimanka municipal district, on the night of October 14-15. This was announced by the head of the Council of Deputies of Yakimanka District, Andrei Morev, on his Facebook page, reports Fergana news agency.

Morev noted that the installation of the monument was preceded by protests of Yakimanka residents, therefore, in his opinion, the installation was carried out at night “under the cover of a bus and two police cars”, secretly from Muscovites.

“The work was conducted at night, cowardly. After all, if they were not afraid of anything, then the installation would go in the light of day, ”wrote the chairman of the Council of Deputies of Yakimanka, who was trying to prevent the appearance of this sculpture.

Opponents of the installation of the monument stated that the late president was a “Russophobe”, therefore his statue is inappropriate in the Russian capital. However, the requirement to hold a referendum was rejected. The monument is covered with an awning, its opening, according to rumors, is scheduled for Tuesday, October 16.

The author of the monument with a height of 2.3 meters was one of the leading British sculptors Paul Day. Human rights activists and activists from among the Uzbek immigrants tried to convince the sculptor not to get involved in this project, but to no avail. In an interview with the Karimov Foundation website, Day explained the essence of the concept as follows: “The personality of the first president incorporates many features - first of all he is a man, a father, a husband. And at the same time he is the creator of modern Uzbekistan, a significant statesman recognized internationally”.

After the monument appeared next to the Embassy of Uzbekistan, at the intersection of Bolshaya Polyanka and the 1st Cossack Lane in Islam Karimov Square, which received this name in 2016, criticism was caused not only by the ideological background of the monument’s construction “to one of the bloodiest rulers”, but and too ingenious appearance. The first commentators in social networks called the monument “another bronze idiot”.

Critics wrote that they expected more artistic originality from an English sculptor, although, one must assume, the result of the work depended not so much on the talents of the sculptor, but on the tastes of the customer. The construction of the monument was paid for by the Islam Karimov Foundation, which is headed by the daughter of the late Uzbek President Lola Karimova-Tillyayeva.

"The Qazaq Times"