In Russia, the action "Return of the names" takes place

In the cities of Russia on October 29, the “Return of Names” campaign is held. She is timed to the day of memory of victims of political repression. Participants read out the names of those who were shot, sent to camps or amazed in rights during the years of Soviet power. The Memorial also compiled a list of repressed under modern Russian authorities who died in prison. It has 24 names.

In Moscow, in memory of the victims of political repression, flowers to the Solovetsky stone were laid by foreign diplomats and members of the Memorial. Muscovites were banned by the authorities forbidden the mass action.

The ban on holding the action was imposed in four cities: Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Vologda and Ulyanovsk. In Novosibirsk, the promotion is scheduled for October 30, despite the ban. In Tomsk, in addition to the ban, commemorative pillars with the names of those executed under Stalin were demolished.

In Petrozavodsk, several people read the names in the Zaretsky cemetery at the memorial to victims of political repression, said the Telegram channel from the From Karelia with Freedom. They laid flowers to the monument and lit the lamps.

In Syktyvkar, the action was agreed, but the city administration allowed activists to read the names within only 30 minutes and limited the number of participants. Activists hung photos of the victims of terror in 1937-1938 at the monument-watch and gave a brief certificate about the fate of each of them.

They also read the names of the repressed residents of the region and special migrants taken from the Martyr "repentance" and from the research of local local historians, journalist Igor Bobrakov said .

In St. Petersburg, the "Return of Names" was held the day before, October 28. It was organized at the headquarters of the unregistered party "Dawn". Police came to the event, although the venue was not disclosed. After checking the documents from people at the headquarters, the police left the office, and later issued a warning about "the inadmissibility of actions creating the conditions for committing offenses", the head of the St. Petersburg branch of the Dawn party, Georgy Smirnov.

In Kirov, members of the Yabloko party read out the names of their namesakes, executed during the years of terror.

“The return of the names” also passes outside Russia - the names are read in Tbilisi, Riga, Warsaw, Tallinn, Helsinki. The organizers reported that the action will take place in 109 cities around the world.

The first action "Return of Names" was organized by human rights activists from the Memorial society in 2007 in Moscow near Solovetsky Stone. Residents of the city, replacing each other, read 3226 names of the repressed. Since then, the action has been held in the capital and in many cities of Russia annually.

Since 2018, the authorities made attempts to prevent the action, but reading names still occurred. In 2020, the authorities banned its holding in Moscow (and some other cities), referring to the Pandemia of Koronavirus. Despite the completion of the pandemic, the action is still prohibited.

In 2023, the “Return of Names” campaign was held in a direct broadcast format. More than seven thousand people out of 70 cities attacked the air. Some people read the names online, others sent videos in advance.

October 16 2024 Roskomnadzor blocked the website of the “Return of Names” campaign. Nevertheless, the "Memorial" holds the action online - in Yetube.

In September, the Prosecutor General’s Office abolished more than 4 thousand conclusions on the rehabilitation of repressed in the Soviet years. In total, 14 thousand conclusions were checked. The prosecutor’s office claims that they canceled the conclusions from those repressed who were either among the SS military personnel, or employees of the occupation administrations, cartels and policemen.

• The day of memory of victims of political repression is celebrated in Russia on October 30 by decision of the Supreme Council of 1991. The “Expand of the Names” action takes place on the eve of this day, so that, according to its organizers, to give the Day of the memory established by the state, the “human dimension”.