Socio-cultural image of a region in terms of toponymic policy (the case study of Tyumen and Naberezhnye Chelny)

The paper studies city toponyms, the policy of the authorities in renaming urban objects. Toponymy of the urban space allows to estimate the power settings and the political discourse propagated by regional authorities. Basing on the study of the names of the streets in Tyumen and Naberezhnye Chelny, the conclusion is drawn about different grounds of renaming streets in the Tyumen Region and in the Republic of Tatarstan. The author believes that the strategy of renaming in Tyumen is of non-ethnic character.