Dangerous Remembrance: War Opponents Remember Stalin’s Victims in Moscow

A dangerous memory
Opponents of the war commemorated Stalin’s victims in Moscow

October 29, 2023, 5:46 pm

Listen to the article

Since the war against Ukraine, the Kremlin has become increasingly repressive of its critics. Nevertheless, human rights activists in Moscow flock to Lubyanka Square to commemorate Stalin’s victims at the former KGB headquarters. An anti-war Orlov now sees a “totalitarian regime” in Russia.

Despite the authorities’ massive restrictions, people in many Russian cities remembered the victims of political repression during the Soviet era. A number of diplomats from Western countries, among others, laid flowers at Lubyanka Square in central Moscow this Sunday in view of the official memorial day on October 30. Prominent Russian human rights activists were also in attendance, including the co-founder and head of the memorial organization Banned by the Russian Judiciary, Svetlana Kanushkina, and Oleg Orlov. However, the police allowed only a few people who were surrounded by the so-called Solovetsky Stone.

The stone serves as a memorial to the millions of people who died in Moscow from 1924 to 1953 under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Until a few years ago, human rights activists always called for major actions at the site on October 29 and traditionally read the names of the victims, many of whom were shot in the 1930s, under the motto “Return the names”.

Such activities are currently prohibited – Russian authorities officially justify this with anti-Covid measures. Kremlin critics see this as pure harassment during Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, as Russia has long had no coronavirus restrictions.

“stupid nonsense”

“It’s stupid nonsense,” said Orlov, a human rights activist and war opponent, at the site in Lubyanka, where the feared secret service KGB was in the Soviet era and its successor, the FSB, is now based. “It shows that the regime that has now re-emerged in Russia is an authoritarian regime that does not tolerate any dissent,” said the 70-year-old, who was recently fined for criticizing the war.

Especially since the start of the war against Ukraine, Russia has massively increased pressure against critics and dissidents in its own country. Those who “dishonor” one’s own army now face years in prison.