Russia's Public Chamber asks Moscow to drop Stalin poster plans

The Russian Public Chamber on Tuesday asked Moscow city authorities to abandon plans to decorate the city with Joseph Stalin billboards for the 65th Victory Day celebrations.

Moscow City Hall revealed plans on February 17 to set up billboards across the Russian capital to commemorate Stalin's role in the Soviet victory against Nazi Germany in 1945. The plans stirred controversy among Muscovites and provoked anger from human rights activists, but won the sympathy of war veterans.

"Regardless of their initial intentions, the Moscow authorities' decision can be viewed only as an ill-considered move, which provokes public tensions and confrontation during the celebrations of the anniversary of the Great Victory," the Chamber said in a statement.

Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov earlier said "the bacchanalia in the media" had distorted the officials' plans, conjuring up the image of a city full of Stalin posters.

He said that billboards focusing exclusively on Stalin's wartime achievements would only be placed at 10 sites across the city, including the Poklonnaya Memorial Park, and in front of the Bolshoi Theater.

A number of public organizations said they would launch protests if the decision was not reversed.

"The decision by Moscow authorities stirred controversy in Moscow society and we fear that billboards featuring Stalin will lead to numerous incidents, including violations of public order. For some people, he [Stalin] is a personal friend, while for others he is a personal enemy," said Nikolai Svanidze, who heads the Chamber's commission on interethnic relations and the freedom of thought.

Stalin's name, which has not been present in Moscow's festive decorations since Soviet times, came to the focus of public attention last summer, when the Kurskaya station of the capital's subway was under reconstruction.

When the station reopened in summer 2009 after reconstruction, a wall inside its lobby carried an inscription from the old Soviet anthem: "Stalin brought us up to serve the nation well; he inspired us for labor and feats." The inscription originally appeared on the wall back in 1950, but was removed in 1961.

A human rights organization then sent a protest to Luzhkov, saying it deemed the restoration of inscriptions glorifying Stalin an insult to the memory of those who had died in labor camps under Stalin.

In the 1930s-1950s millions of people were executed on fake charges of espionage, sabotage, anti-Soviet propaganda or died of starvation, disease or exposure in Gulag labor camps.

According to official statistics, 52 million were convicted on political charges during Stalin's regime and 6 million were sent out of cities without proper trials.