The Russian flag keeps getting stolen from the parkway. Now there’s a petition to officially remove it.
Some of those seeking to have the flag removed from the Philadelphia promenade are Russian immigrants
If Kate Rybak’s petition succeeds, Philadelphians can stop stealing the Russian flag from its spot on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
They’ve made off with it twice in the last six weeks.
And vandalized the flag of Russia’s war ally, Belarus.
Now Rybak and a group of Russian- and Ukrainian-American allies are formally asking Philadelphia city officials to remove the Russian banner from among the proud rows of world flags that line the promenade.
“The flag that hangs there,” said Rybak, 44, a Bucks County human-resources manager who immigrated from Russia, “is soaked in blood.”
Their petition on Change.org had gathered about 300 signatures as of Thursday afternoon.
“The City takes community input seriously, and currently, we’re evaluating all options available,” said mayoral Deputy Communications Director Irene Contreras. “But, for now, there are no plans to remove the Russian flag from the parkway.”
A spokesperson for City Council President Darrell Clarke declined to comment.
City officials don’t believe a parkway flag has ever been removed, except perhaps in circumstances where a country ceased to exist.
The organizers want the flag pole left bare. Or for the Russian flag to be replaced with the unofficial flag of anti-Putin, anti-war Russian protesters. That flag has three stripes, white-blue-white, eliminating the red “blood” stripe of the Russian flag.
“Taking down the Russian flag is a powerful sign of support against the war in Ukraine,” said Rada Dubashinsky, 50, a Ukrainian American who came to Philadelphia after the fall of the Soviet Union.
She was among a small group of petition organizers who on Thursday met at the base of the Russian flag, which flies at 20th and the parkway, northeast of the Franklin Institute. They left children’s stuffed animals splashed with fake blood.
“My co-workers asked, ‘Is the flag still there?’” said Roman Vengrenyuk, 38, a Philadelphia financial analyst who was born and raised in Ukraine. “I said, ‘Yeah, it’s still there.’”
Today Russian flags are coming down in parks and airports of towns and cities in the United States and Canada, amid wide denunciation of Russian aggression.
The local petition condemns the Russian Federation and President Vladimir Putin for war crimes and atrocities, including the murder of men, women and children in the Ukrainian cities of Bucha, Mariupol, Kharkiv and elsewhere.
“Under this flag, the Russian army invaded Ukraine and violated countless laws of humanity,” it states. “We don’t want the Russian flag displayed on a central street of Philadelphia, which is home to liberty and independence.”
Some area residents immediately signed.
“War criminals should not be celebrated amongst the global community of civilized nations,” wrote Matt Levy of Malvern.
“Would Philadelphia leave a Nazi flag flying?” asked Ann Cirelli, a Ukrainian American in Downingtown.
Another petition organizer, Sean Moir, 57, an internet-technology consultant who lives in East Falls, said simply, “It’s got to come down. It represents too much evil.”
Moir describes himself as “Ukrainian by marriage.” His wife, Valentyna Levytsky, was in Ukraine to care for her ailing mother when Russia invaded.
Daughter and mother fled to the west, but the older woman soon succumbed to illness. Levytsky made her way to Poland, where nearly 3 million refugees have fled, and arrived home to Philadelphia in early March.
She said she agreed the Russian flag must come down from its post on the parkway, the majestic city commons that’s lined with museums, fountains and landmarks which include the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Barnes Foundation and the Franklin Institute.
The Russian flag has been stolen — and replaced — twice since March 4.
The world flags on the parkway were installed nearly 50 years ago, marking Philadelphia as a welcoming, international city during the 1976 Bicentennial celebration. Today the 109 flags represent countries that have significant or growing immigrant populations in Philadelphia.
They’re hung in general alphabetical order, with a few exceptions. Israel’s flag is displayed next to the Holocaust Memorial, and the flags of Vatican City, Italy, and Poland are close to the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul because of their strong Catholic affiliations.
The flag of the Soviet Union featured a red field adorned by a gold hammer and sickle, with a gold-bordered red star in the upper left corner. The red banner was long the symbol of communist movements, while the hammer and sickle represented unity between industrial workers and farm laborers.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, more than a dozen nations became independent, including Ukraine. The Russian Federation readopted the white, blue and red Russian national flag.
Since the invasion, the Russian flag has been removed from Miami International Airport and from the Cleveland Cultural Gardens. The Common Council in La Crosse, Wis., voted to remove it from the city airport, and the Anacortes City Council in Washington state excised Russian flags from its “Sister Cities” displays.
The Huntsville council in Ontario voted unanimously to remove the flag from its G8 Flag Park, which honors the countries that attended the 2010 Summit, and the flag also was taken down outside the Ron Irwin Civic Centre in Sault Ste. Marie.
Some of those seeking to have the flag removed from the Philadelphia parkway are, like Rybak, immigrants from Russia.
“There’s a difference,” she said, “between being anti-Russian and anti-Putin.”