HUGE pictures of Josef Stalin may be put up in Moscow for the first time in decades as part of Russia's observance of Victory Day – the annual celebration of the defeat of Nazi Germany.
This year, the 65th anniversary of Germany's defeat, a contingent of troops from both Britain and the United States is expected to march in Red Square, in tribute to the combined effort to defeat fascism.
But the Moscow city authorities may be pr
eparing a less welcome kind of gesture by putting up the Stalin posters, an honour denied since the Soviet dictator's crimes were publicly exposed more than half a century ago.
The poster proposal for Victory Day on 9 May, Russia's most emotionally charged secular holiday, has raised a storm of controversy in the state-controlled media and again opened the never-healed wound of Russia's Soviet past.
The debate comes amid rising concern that Stalin is being quietly rehabilitated as memories of his reign of terror fade. Last year, the old Soviet national anthem lyrics praising Stalin were restored to a rotunda in a Moscow subway station.
The Second World War victory over the Nazis came at an appalling cost to the Soviet Union – at least 27 million of its citizens are estimated to have died. That death toll feeds Russia's self-image as a nation of exceptional valour, and any criticism of its wartime role sets off resentment.
Stalin's case is especially touchy: should Russians honour him for leading the country's glorious sacrifice or denounce him for his decades of brutal rule, which included sending tens of millions into labour camps?
Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov believes Stalin should get his due as the Soviets' then commander-in-chief. "How did people go into the war? They went to war with the cry 'For the homeland! For Stalin!'" Mr Luzhkov said on Russia's state TV news channel Vesti.
A major veterans' organisation agrees. "The veterans of Moscow condemn repression, but at the same time value the results achieved under the command of Stalin," Vladimir Dolgikh, head of the Moscow Public Veterans Organisation, told the state news agency RIA Novosti.
Moscow authorities have said there will be only a few posters of Stalin and that they will be at information booths where veterans gather for the commemorations. The US Embassy declined to comment on the issue. Britain has announced it will send a military contingent but the Foreign Office declined to discuss the posters.
However, opposition ranges from human rights organisations to the highest levels of national power.
The Kremlin committee organising the national Victory Day observance has reportedly said it won't issue any Stalin posters. The reports said that decision should be considered as a recommendation to the city authorities not to put up posters.
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and prime minister Vladimir Putin haven't weighed in on the issue, but the head of Mr Putin's dominant United Russia faction in parliament strongly denounced the plans.
"There's nothing to argue about here. Stalin was guilty in the deaths of millions of people," Boris Gryzlov has said.
The respected human rights group Memorial has appealed to Mr Medvedev to stop the posters going up, while the head of Russia's Communist Party believes Mr Luzhkov will cave in to pressure from above and grant Memorial its wish.
"I'm not convinced the Moscow authorities have the courage to realise this idea," Gennady Zyuganov told RIA Novosti.
