Russian Communist Party supporters commemorate the 70th anniversary of Joseph Stalin’s death in Moscow on 5 March 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/MAXIM SHIPENKOV

Yelena Dyatlova, the mayor of the Russian city of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea, has refused to grant the regional Communist Party permission to erect a monument to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, independent news channel 7x7 reported on Wednesday.

In a letter to the local Communist Party that the party subsequently published on its site, Dyatlova wrote that “putting up monuments should not lead to conflict between different sectors of society”, citing the terror and repression Stalin was responsible for during his three decades in power. Joseph Stalin’s

Calling the persecution of Soviet citizens under Stalin “incompatible with the idea of law and justice”, Dyatlova referred the applicants to the 1991 Russian law on the rehabilitation of victims of political repression, as well as to the 1956 resolution from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on overcoming the cult of personality.

The Communist Party responded that Dyatlova’s position was “not just a personal opinion, but a clear anti-Soviet position aimed at denigrating Soviet history and the great feat of the people”, employing a term that was frequently used in the past to describe the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany.

“By vilifying Stalin, she has tried to disguise her own incompetence and inaction, which has led to the deplorable state Kaliningrad now finds itself in. We will not allow her to rewrite history and shirk responsibility!” Maxim Bulanov, head of the Kaliningrad Communist Party, said in response.

Dyatlova became mayor of Kaliningrad in November 2020, where she is also head of the regional branch of the ruling United Russia party.