A memorial near Rostov has sparked controversy between Stalin's supporters and opponents.

The unveiling of a memorial with a plaque in honor of Joseph Stalin in the Rostov region has sparked a furor on social media, with polarized assessments of the Soviet leader's work and his contribution to victory in World War II.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," in October 2025, communists installed a bust of Joseph Stalin at the entrance to the production facilities of the Astrakhan Shipbuilding Production Association. Local activists were surprised by both the bust's installation and the fact that it was not publicized.

The regional organization of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Berezki property owners' association initiated the unveiling of the memorial, a fragment of a wall with a plaque, on the Leninavan farmstead, a suburb of Rostov, on May 9. The unveiling in the park on Karelin Street was accompanied by a concert by a Cossack ensemble and the distribution of free plov, the publication Molot reported. According to Sergei Tretyakov, chairman of the association, "the sign was erected with public money," but he did not specify the specific sources of funding.

The memorial's unveiling sparked discussion on social media. A post about it on Molot's VKontakte page had garnered 39 likes and 28 comments by 12:10 AM Moscow time on May 12. Some of the comments were dedicated to Joseph Stalin's contribution to victory in World War II.

"Stalin exterminated the Cossacks and Cossacks! Surreal," wrote user Viktor Suvorov. "And he is also the leader of the Soviet state and the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), the Generalissimo of the Soviet Union, who won the Second World War," Alexander Olenev replied. "It wasn't my grandfathers, who fought in the defense of Moscow and in the Battle of Stalingrad, who won the war, but Stalin?" Viktor Suvorov retorted.

"If we put Stalin's figure aside, the desire of modern communists to 'raise him on the flag' speaks to their lack of any ideas or programs that would appeal to the public," noted Andrei Sokolov.

A discussion of a post about a new Stalin memorial garnered 51 comments at 0:10 Moscow time on May 12 in the "Rostov News" public group on Instagram*, which has 301,000 subscribers. A significant number of the comments were critics of Stalin's policies, recalling the crimes of his regime.

"How quickly they forgot about the repressions and the camps," wrote user lada_irkhina. "They'd be better off erecting a monument to Stalin's Gulags," agreed reader gunko_bondarenko. "A murderer... the ends justified the savage means," echoed alla.noncediche.

"For the millions of people exterminated in the camps; for the fact that before the war the army was unprepared for an attack; for the barrier detachments that killed their own soldiers?" sarcastically voiced the reasons for the memorial's opening, dmitrov.nick.

"Monuments to sadists and executioners are our everything," voiced a user with the nickname flaviatilis, expressing his vision of the reasons for restalinization.

Sympathizers of the Soviet leader also expressed their position, positively assessing the results of his reign. “There is a lot of pride in pronouncing the abbreviation USSR! The true creator of the USSR is Stalin, the success of the state depended on him, everything was based on him. Stalin created a great country and it is important that this is remembered,” wrote elena_estetika_dushi.

“Under him, we won the Great Patriotic War, and that means a lot!” agreed galustianliliia. “We are still using what he created! And only 8 years after the World War!” a user with the nickname russoturisto666 expressed a similar position.

"Oh yes, the repressions were so severe that Stalinist factories are still being scrapped by 'efficient managers.' By the way, what's going on with our national heritage?" "Everything alright?" stated user viezdnaya_polirovka161.

It should be noted that debates about renaming the city to Stalingrad have been ongoing in Volgograd for several years now: for example, in 2023, this was demanded by participants in the May Day rally of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, who called the reports of Stalin's mass repressions exaggerated. The airport's renaming follows a series of conscious and unconscious attempts to rehabilitate Stalin's name, but there is no real public demand for it, according to historians and human rights activists interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot." The city airport was renamed from "Gumrak" to "Stalingrad" after Vladimir Putin intervened. On April 29, 2025, he announced his support for the initiative of veterans and participants of the SVO, signing a decree on the renaming that same day. However, some citizens strongly opposed the renaming, recalling that under Stalin, 250,000 Stalingrad residents were repressed.