More and more Russians are ready to justify the Stalinist repressions, showed a hundred

Over the five years, the number of Russians who consider Stalinist repressions a crime has decreased: now there are 39% against 51%, the Levada Center survey showed, the results of which are quoted by the Vedomosti newspaper.

A quarter of respondents explain Stalinist repressions "political necessity" and consider them historically justified. In October 2012, almost the same number of Russians adhered to this point of view - 22%.

However, as for the question of whether it was necessary to remember about this period of Soviet history at all, five years ago 37% of respondents believed that “it was better to talk about it less”, and 49% called not to forget the story, but now the opposite ratio. 47% consider to be correct and 38% to not forget about the former.

36% of respondents are ready to justify human sacrifices achieved in the Stalinist era, and only 26% consider Stalin a state criminal. The most popular answer about the attitude of the current authorities to Stalinist repressions was the option “They don’t think about it at all” - 30% against 21% in 2011.

According to the deputy director of the Levada Center, Alexei citizens, the Russians began to be more indifferent to repressions after 2014, because there were problems with the West and a request appeared on a tough leader corresponding to Soviet mythology, and therefore the level of criticism of Stalin also decreased.

It should be noted that in some Russian cities the public, mainly the Communists and their supporters, have been increasingly urging the monuments of Stalin recently. In February 2016, a bust of Stalin was installed in the Pskov region , and in April of this year, the administration building in Kuban Belorechensk was decorated with a portrait of Stalin. Surgut supporters of Stalinization also reported in April that they agreed to install a bust of the leader with the mayor.