Moscow: Moscow's mayor on Tuesday defended the
city's controversial plans to decorate the city centre with
posters of Joseph Stalin during the World War II victory
celebrations in May.
The city has unveiled plans to put up the posters and
erect information points commemorating Stalin's role in the
war during parades that are planned for the 65th anniversary
of the defeat of Nazi Germany on May 9.
If realised, the plans would break a major taboo in
Russia of promoting a figure who is blamed for the deaths of
millions of Soviet citizens in the Gulag prison camps and
forced collectivization.
Mayor Yury Luzhkov confirmed that the poster campaign
would go ahead, despite criticism from officials including
parliamentary speaker Boris Gryzlov and human rights
campaigners.
"I'm not an admirer of Stalin, but I am an admirer of
objective history," Luzhkov told the city parliament, adding:
"We should not erase this or that figure from history," the
ITAR-TASS news agency reported.
Luzhkov criticised the media reaction to the story,
calling it "a bacchanalia," the RIA Novosti news agency
reported.
The poster campaign earlier provoked criticism from
Gryzlov, a leader of the ruling United Russia party.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, March 02, 2010, 19:12