Stalin's image set to reappear on Moscow’s streets
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A heated dispute has erupted in Russia over plans to adorn Moscow’s streets with portraits of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin during Victory Day celebrations on 9 May.
Vladimir Makarov, head of Moscow’s municipal advertising and information department, said the Soviet-era portraits will appear at the request of an organization of World War II veterans.
Although veterans were not prevented from bringing their own pictures of the war-time leader with them to Victory Day celebrations in the past, this will be the first time since the Soviet era that the authorities will be drawing attention to Stalin's role in the war as commander-in-chief .
The plan has been welcomed by Russian Communist Party leader Gennadiy Zyuganov. “Without Generalissimo Stalin this victory would have been unthinkable,” he declared.
The idea has outraged ormer dissidents and human rights campaigners, who are outraged by what they see as attempts to glorify a tyrant who was responsible for the deaths of up to 20 million people.
Human rights activist Lyudmila Alekseyeva, who heads Moscow’s Helsinki Group, pledged to pelt the portraits with rotten eggs if they appear in the streets.
“My father did not return from the war. He served his homeland and not Stalin, whose rule before, during and after the war brought death to millions of people,” Alekseyeva said.
Alhough President Dmitriy Medvedev recently branded Stalin “a criminal”, analysts point to a growing trend within Russian society to "rehabilitate" the dictator’s image.
A 2008 poll by Russian state TV found that Stalin was the nation’s third most popular historical figure, behind 13th century Prince Aleksander Nevskiy and early 20th century Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin.
