{"id":406568,"date":"2025-09-08T00:59:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T00:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/406568\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T00:59:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T00:59:28","slug":"how-putin-weaponizes-memory-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/406568\/","title":{"rendered":"How Putin Weaponizes Memory Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIn Russia, monuments to people responsible for mass killings and other Soviet-era crimes are springing up like mushrooms after an autumn rain,\u201d Jaroslaw Kuisz recently wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As statues commemorating figures from Joseph Stalin to the founder of the Bolshevik secret police are erected across the country, many Russians have responded with little more than a shrug. One person told a BBC reporter that Stalin is \u201cunfairly hated\u201d; another said that \u201cStalin is our history,\u201d adding that \u201cnobody\u2019s perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Russia, monuments to people responsible for mass killings and other Soviet-era crimes are springing up like mushrooms after an autumn rain,\u201d Jaroslaw Kuisz recently wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As statues commemorating figures from Joseph Stalin to the founder of the Bolshevik secret police are erected across the country, many Russians have responded with little more than a shrug. One person told a BBC reporter that Stalin is \u201cunfairly hated\u201d; another said that \u201cStalin is our history,\u201d adding that \u201cnobody\u2019s perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, history is never fixed, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has used this to his advantage. His regime has embarked on a major project to recast the past (and especially the Soviet era) to legitimize its rule, justify the invasion of Ukraine, and market itself as an anti-colonial power to the global south.<\/p>\n

The essays below explore the Kremlin\u2019s use of memory politics\u2014and its counterpart, \u201cmemory diplomacy\u201d\u2014and consider how memory can still survive in today\u2019s Russia.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A person is silhouetted in front of a white high relief statue of Stalin with other figures around him.<\/p>\n

A commuter pauses in front of a newly unveiled monument depicting Joseph Stalin inside Taganskaya metro station in Moscow on May 15. Alexander Nemenov\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

The Kremlin\u2019s Factory of Resentment<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

A new history of the Cold War unwittingly exposes Russian distortions of the past, Jaroslaw Kuisz writes.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A World War II monument depicts Soviet soldiers<\/p>\n

An eternal flame burns in front of a World War II monument depicting Soviet soldiers at a military historical museum in the village of Lenino, outside Moscow, on Feb. 15, 2020. DIMITAR DILKOFF\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Moscow Is Using Memory Diplomacy to Export Its Narrative to the World<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Putin is pushing Russian revisionist history to bolster the Kremlin\u2019s influence abroad and its legitimacy at home, Jade McGlynn writes.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People with bowed heads wearing winter clothes pass by the bare and snowy branches of a tree in front of an apartment building in Moscow as they attend the ceremony for the installation of commemorative plaques to the victims of Soviet repression on the wall of their former house.<\/p>\n

People attend the ceremony for the installation of commemorative plaques to the victims of Soviet repression on the wall of their former house in central Moscow on Dec. 10, 2014. Yuri Kadobnov\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

How Memory Survives in Putin\u2019s Russia<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s dictator controls its past, Tanya Paperny writes. But can history that avoids politics live on?<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A stadium full of people, most wearing red, wave Russian flags.<\/p>\n

People wave Russian flags as they gather to mark the eighth anniversary of Russia\u2019s annexation of Crimea during an event at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on March 18, 2022.Ramil Sitdikov\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Ukraine Isn\u2019t Putin\u2019s War\u2014It\u2019s Russia\u2019s War<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Jade McGlynn\u2019s books paint an unsettling picture of ordinary Russians\u2019 support for the invasion and occupation of Ukraine, Keir Giles writes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Foreign Policy Illustration <\/p>\n

How Russia Invaded Wikipedia<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Kremlin is weaponizing an alternative version of the website\u2014and rewriting the facts of Putin\u2019s war against Ukraine, Olga Boichak writes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIn Russia, monuments to people responsible for mass killings and other Soviet-era crimes are springing up like mushrooms…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[2348,6219,122898,36765,332,333],"class_list":{"0":"post-406568","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-history","9":"tag-homepage_regional_europe","10":"tag-paywall-free","11":"tag-post-to-buffer","12":"tag-russia","13":"tag-vladimir-putin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115165971505097560","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}