Russia unveils Stalin bust ahead of WWII commemorations
- Bronze bust of late dictator in Volgograd – formerly Stalingrad – unveiled day before it marks 80th anniversary of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany in Battle of Stalingrad
- President Vladimir Putin is due in city on Thursday for commemorations including military parade; growing numbers nostalgic for USSR superpower status
A bust of the late dictator Joseph Stalin was unveiled in the southern Russian city of Volgograd on Wednesday on the eve of commemorations of the Soviet victory in the Battle of Stalingrad.
The bronze bust was unveiled ahead of President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad, on Thursday, for high-profile celebrations that will include a military parade.
Most monuments to Stalin, who presided over purges known as the Great Terror, have been taken down in countries that were once part of the Soviet Union.
But since Putin took power in Russia in 2000, there has been a growing chorus of Russians who take a positive view of the mustachioed despot’s role in history, and historians have pointed to the creeping rehabilitation of Stalin in the country.
Footage released by state news agency RIA Novosti showed teenagers wearing military-style uniforms pulling down white covers from the busts of Stalin and two Soviet military commanders before baskets of red flowers were laid near the statues.
The ceremony, in front of the museum dedicated to the Battle of Stalingrad and attended by several dozen people, as seen in the video, was accompanied by the Russian national anthem.