the Soviet Union

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Parliament of Ukraine. Photo: rada.gov.ua

Ukraine recognises Ingushetia’s right to self-determination

•2 min read

Ukraine’s Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has adopted a resolution recognising the Ingush people’s right to create an independent state and condemning Russia’s mass deportation of the Ingush in 1944. The Verkhovna Rada adopted the resolution on 23 February, the 80th anniversary of the deportation of the Chechens and Ingush from their homes in the North Caucasus. The Soviet Union, under the rule of Joseph Stalin, orchestrated the forcible deportation of the entire population of Karachays, Bal

Sameba Cathedral. Image: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media

Georgia

Georgian Church calls for removal of Stalin from icon in Sameba cathedral

by Shota Kincha

•2 min read

The Georgian Patriarchate has asked the donors of a controversial icon featuring Joseph Stalin to remove the Soviet dictator from the icon. The icon, which was donated by the pro-Russian group Alliance of Patriots, chronicles the life of Saint Matrona of Moscow, a 20th-century Russian Orthodox Church saint. One of the smaller icons surrounding the central depiction of Matrona appears to feature the saint and Stalin, sparking controversy in Georgia, Stalin’s birthplace. The church asked th

Far-right protesters gathered outside the house of activist Nata Peradze on 10 January 2024. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Georgia

Formal investigation and far-right demonstration prompted by paint on controversial Stalin icon

by Tata Shoshiashvili

•2 min read

A group of far-right activists on Wednesday surrounded the house of an activist accused of painting over a controversial icon, after Georgia’s interior ministry launched an investigation into the act on charges of hooliganism. On Tuesday, activist Nata Peradze published a video on Facebook showing blue paint on an icon of St. Matrona that depicts the 20th century saint in the company of a man resembling the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. The icon is in the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi.

An alleged depiction of USSR leader Joseph Stalin as part of an icon dedicated to St. Matrona of Moscow. Photo: Ilia Chigladze/Facebook.

Georgia

Controversy after Stalin icon found in Tbilisi’s Sameba cathedral

by Tata Shoshiashvili

•2 min read

An icon dedicated to Saint Matrona of Moscow in Tbilisi’s Sameba Holy Trinity Cathedral depicting the saint in the company of a man resembling Joseph Stalin has stirred controversy in Georgia. Footage of the icon in Sameba was first shared on Saturday by Ilia Chigladze, a Georgian archpriest, on Facebook. Soon after, Giorgi Kandelaki, a member of the opposition European Georgia party and a researcher at the Soviet Past Research Laboratory, shot and shared footage of the icon on his social medi

Analysis

Datablog | What shapes attitudes toward the Soviet Union’s collapse in Georgia and Armenia?

by Sasha Slobodov

•3 min read

The collapse of the Soviet Union led to fundamental economic and social transformations in both Georgia and Armenia. Opinion polling suggests that views of the collapse today may be associated with how one has fared in the post-Soviet period. The 2021 Caucasus Barometer surveys in Georgia and Armenia suggest that attitudes toward the collapse of the Soviet Union are correlated with perceptions about satisfaction with life. Overall, Georgians look back on the USSR much less fondly than Armen

Chechen and Ingush Deportations

Opinion | Russia’s death train rolls through Chechnya and Ingushetia

by Magomed Torijev

•5 min read

On the anniversary of the deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people, a Russian ‘victory train’ is visiting the two republics — a grotesque parody of the trains that took so many to exile and death. Today is the 78th anniversary of the deportation of the Vainakhs — the Chechen and Ingush people — to Siberia and Central Asia. Seventy-eight years since the entire population of Chechnya and Ingushetia were taken from their homes at gunpoint, in the dead of winter, and packed into cattle cars pu

Participants of a demonstration on 23 February in the Novolaksky District. Photo: r_otuzbiev/Instagram

Aukh District

The deported Chechens of Daghestan still unable to return to their homes

by Zhalavdi Geriyev

•4 min read

Seventy-seven years after the deportation of the entire Chechen and Ingush nations to Central Asia, Chechen returnees from a small corner of Daghestan still dream of returning to their homes. Every year on 23 February, Chechens and Ingush people mark the tragic anniversary of the Soviet deportations of 1944 on the orders of Stalin — a genocidal event that cost the lives of up to one-third of their total population. In recent years, the largest events to commemorate the day have been held not