The portraits of Josef Stalin are placed in the main square of Donetsk, a large Ukrainian city which is seized by Russian-backed separatists.
The Soviet tyrant’s saying is also quoted: “Our cause is right, the enemy will be defeated, victory will be ours”, France-Presse reports.
According to the author of the publication, now the authorities and residents of Donetsk are trying to blur over Stalin’s atrocities. They apparently forget about 5 mln Ukrainians who died in the course of the forced collectivization in the 30s.
Alexander Zakharchenko, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, repeatedly stated that he bewails the fact of the Soviet Union’s disitegration.
“The Soviet Union was a great country. It is a huge mistake that the CIA and other intelligence agencies destroyed it. Then Europe and other countries were afraid of us,” Zakharchenko said.
France-Presse stresses that the stance of the DPR stands in a harsh contrast to Kyiv’s recent decision to bann the use of Soviet symbols. Several monuments to Vladimir Lenin were toppled in Ukraine, which brought Donetsk separatists to the boil.
The occupation authorities are deliberately pursuing a policy of the idealization of the Soviet era. However, they deny everything that ‘spoils’ the perfect picture, France Presse says.
