On Saturday, an unidentified man wielding a sledgehammer decapitated a statue of Stalin located in a park in the city of Zvenigorod, 40 km west of Moscow.
A Telegram channel named ‘Ostorozhno Novosti’ broadcast a video showing the perpetrator approaching the monument and then delivering a single blow that severed its head.
“On Saturday, in one of Zvenigorod’s parks, a man in an unwell state knocked the head off the bust of Joseph Stalin with a sledgehammer,” a law enforcement source told Russia’s state-run agency RIA.
Ostorozhno Novosti also published a photo showing the damaged bust of Stalin with its head hanging from its shoulders. According to the channel, the person also vandalized a bust of Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union (USSR), located in the same park, before fleeing the scene.
The monument honoring Stalin was erected by a group of activists in the summer of 2023 without the consent of local authorities. The latter, however, did not remove it despite protests from local residents.
Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953, presided over a totalitarian regime that saw millions imprisoned in labor camps or executed.
In Russia, the public attitude toward the Soviet dictator remains ambivalent. The Kremlin celebrates and promotes the geopolitical and military power of the USSR and the legacy of Stalin as part of a narrative designed to rally public support, particularly in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
History textbooks in the country barely mention the victims of political repression, and portray Stalin as primarily a hero who led the USSR to victory over Nazi Germany.
Those who disagree with this historical narrative are often targeted by the authorities. Memorial, a large non-governmental organization that studies both Soviet repression and the repression of the current regime, was banned by the Kremlin in late 2021.
