(I can easily believe Putin would be happy to join in the Immortal Regiment parade while casting shade on the then-leader. Do any of the "Man Like Putin" lyrics refer to Stalin?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUh9pThGdm4 — my russian isn't good enough to tell if the various contrasts have referents or not...)
Edit: upon reflection, if Putin were not behind the rehabilitation of Stalin, then who is?
Firstly, it's Lenin that he blames for Ukrainian autonomy - not Stalin. Secondly, Putin has evidently said that Stalin was a mixed blessing; he industrialized the Russian economy, and he defeated the Nazis, but the repression and murder he caused were wrong.
""The positives that undoubtedly existed were achieved at an unacceptable price. Repressions did take place. This is a fact. Millions of our fellow citizens suffered from them," Putin said.
"Such a way of running a state, of achieving results is unacceptable, this is impossible. We have not only lived through the personality cult but also witnessed mass crimes against our own nation."
So, apologies for misinformation.
Everything is a means to an end in a dictatorship, be it people, resources or truth. Times have changed, social contract has been broken. What lies ahead is repression, so Stalin needs a new dress.
So you are not wrong, but you should not mistake it as an ideological sincere stance.
I think you are talking specifically about the Memorial Project, that was documenting victims of Stalin's terror, and was dissolved by a Moscow judge in 2022?
I remember they were documenting the genocide of Finnish Ingrians among other Soviet crimes.
I guess one metric of repression is what parties are represented in a legislative assembly.
For instance, looking at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_1932_German_federal_e...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1933_German_federal_elec...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_1933_German_parliamen...
things are still looking healthy in Mar 33 (my metric: no party has more delegates than all the other parties combined; others will obviously use different metrics) but Nov 33 is completely out of hand.
Looking at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Duma#Latest_election
the Duma at least has more than two parties, but isn't healthy by my metric. (the same occurs in the upper house)
When more repression arrives, either we'll see a Duma that's nearly 100% "ER and friends", or we'll see a Duma with the same parties but so ineffective that if Putin's horse were elected (it could easily commute from an office in the Moscow Manège?) it wouldn't be any worse than any other deputy.