Putin-Appointed Leaders in North Caucasus This Year Make No Mention of Stalin when Talking about His Deportations of Nationalities

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 8 – The Putin-appointed leaders of Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachayevo-Cherkessia, and Ingushetia in their remarks on the anniversary of the deportation of their nations this year did not refer to Stalin, the author of that crime against humanity, but instead blamed those events of the 1940s on Lavrenty Beriya and other agents of the Kremlin dictator.

            Their failure to mention Stalin stands in sharp contrast to the statements of the leaders of the ethnic movements of the peoples he forcibly deported to Central Asia and Siberia all of whom condemned the dictator and represents yet another effort by Putin to minimize Stalin’s crimes (kavkazr.com/a/v-kabardino-balkarii-vspominayut-zhertv-deportatsii/33698794.html).

            That Stalin was responsible for this crime is well-documented and widely understood both among historians and by the peoples of the North Caucasus, but apparently Putin is prepared to rewrite history in this way to boost his personal hero and to minimize criticism of the Soviet leader he sees as having brough victory in World War II.

            Indeed, what Russians call the Great Fatherland War is for Putin and his team a universal moral solvent that wipes out whatever crimes they have committed; and thus, in the case of Stalin, it is best and certainly safest for his officials not to mention his name when they are talking about what happened in his time.