Overview

• A relief of Stalin unveiled at Moscow’s Taganskaya Metro station to mark the metro network’s 90th anniversary serves as the latest symbol of state-sponsored reverence.
• Regional authorities in Vologda have erected new statues and reliefs praising Stalin’s wartime leadership and discipline.
• A recent Levada Center survey ranked Stalin as the most outstanding historical figure among Russians, ahead of Lenin and President Putin.
• Human rights organizations Memorial International and the Gulag Museum have been banned or closed under official pretexts, effectively erasing formal remembrance of Stalin’s terror.
• City officials cited residual Covid-19 restrictions to block small Jabloko-led protests against the new monuments, although activists have gathered thousands of signatures calling for their removal.