Overview

• A life-size replica of the 1950 Stalin monument, titled 'Gratitude of the People to the Leader and Commander,' was unveiled in Moscow's Taganskaya metro station on May 15 to commemorate the metro's 90th anniversary.
• The sculpture depicts Stalin on Red Square, surrounded by admiring citizens, and celebrates his role in the Soviet Union's World War II victory.
• Public reactions have been polarized, with some praising the statue as a tribute to Stalin's achievements, while others condemn it as glorifying a dictator responsible for mass executions and the Gulag system.
• The liberal Yabloko party formally protested the monument's return, calling it a 'mockery of history' and urging the commemoration of Stalin's victims instead.
• Unauthorized signs quoting critical remarks about Stalin from Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev were briefly placed near the statue but were later removed.