Overview

• Commuters at Taganskaya station encountered a white relief of Stalin unveiled May 15, replicating one removed in 1966 during de-Stalinization.
• The Kremlin has erected at least 108 Stalin monuments since Putin took power, accelerating the campaign after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
• Public reactions range from pensioners praising Stalin’s wartime leadership to younger voices condemning his mass purges and famine policies.
• State media and school materials increasingly portray Stalin as a visionary industrializer and WWII victor while critics face threats of arrest and media attacks.
• Opposition figures argue that reviving Stalin’s image risks justifying past atrocities and normalizing an aggressive leadership model.