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Poll reveals more than half of Russians support memorial symbols in honor of Stalin

According to a poll, more than half of Russians (62%) agree that commemorative plaques, busts and pictures featuring Stalin’s achievements should be installed in public places

© Denis Bukhlaev/TASS

MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/. More than half of Russians (62%) support the installation of commemorative symbols dedicated to the achievements of former Soviet ruler Joseph Stalin, while 65% of those polled oppose the idea of installing monuments dedicated to his crimes, a survey conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center showed on Thursday.

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"More than half of Russians (62%) agree that commemorative plaques, busts and pictures featuring Stalin’s achievements should be installed in public places. On the other hand, 62% of citizens are against installing the monuments, focusing on his failures and crimes," the pollster said.

According to 59% of the respondents, neutral information (concerning visiting a particular city, speaking at a meeting and so on) should not be necessarily present on memorial signs. Young people are more active in supporting the proposed moves, while senior citizens tend to disagree with the installation of memorials glorifying the former Soviet ruler.

In the event of placing a memorial plaque on a neighboring house, 33% of Russians would display neither clear positive nor negative emotions. This fact would be taken in a positive light by 42% of those polled, while 21% would deem it negative.

Disapproval diminishing

"Negative emotions with regard to Joseph Stalin have been subsiding steadily in recent years, but this is not accompanied by a denial of his failures and blunders. <…> Most Russians have nothing against installing some memorial plaques dedicated to Stalin. We would like to emphasize once again that in this case the issue at hand is not idealizing the past, and this has been confirmed by other studies too," Mikhail Mamonov, Head of the pollster’s Department for Political Analysis and Consulting, said commenting on the survey’s results.

The poll was conducted on July 7-8, 2017, with 1,200 people interviewed. The margin of error does not exceed 3.5%.

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