Volgograd activists explained the postponement of laying flowers at the monument to the victims of repressions.

On November 1, the memorial action for the victims of political repressions continued in Volgograd. Activists who laid carnations at the monument "Departing into the Sky" explained that they came after the day of remembrance for the victims of repressions for safety reasons.

"The Caucasian Knot" reported that on October 29, the international action "Return of Names" in the Volgograd region took place online for safety reasons - a number of activists who previously participated in reading the names of the repressed are under criminal prosecution.

Activist Vladimir Telpuk told a correspondent of "The Caucasian Knot" that he laid flowers at the foot of the monument "Departing into the Sky" at noon on November 1. He explained his decision by safety measures.

"Today, the police did not detain anyone, unlike previous actions. I was previously detained for laying flowers at the monument to political repressions," said Vladimir.

According to the activist, bouquets of carnations were already lying at the monument. But he did not find anyone at the monument - neither activists nor police. Telpuk does not know if the names of the repressed were read publicly on November 1.

"After the collapse of the USSR, the date of remembrance for the victims of political repressions appeared in our country. Unfortunately, now in Russia there is a return to these illegal repressions and some of my comrades have been convicted on fabricated charges," said Vladimir Telpuk.

Historian Andrei Kudинов also decided to lay flowers at the monument on November 1. He, like Telpuk, did this "for safety reasons."

"I came to the monument 'Departing into the Sky' early this morning. Flowers were already lying at the foot. It seems they have been there since yesterday. I just laid the flowers and left. We read the names of the repressed relatives at our memorial service at home three days ago," noted the historian.

Kudинов explained that he previously did not want to visit the monument to avoid provoking the police. But, not noticing any police on the upper terrace of the Central Embankment this morning, he went to a flower shop and bought carnations.

"I don't know if the regional and city administration held memorial events on October 30. Nothing is known about this - neither on the administrations' websites nor in the media was anything said about it. But I did not notice any surveillance. Last year, the police were on duty here," Kudинов reported.

A group of students from the Social-Pedagogical University participated in laying flowers at the monument "Departing into the Sky" on the morning of November 1.

"We do not intend to argue with the authorities about the legitimacy of such layings. Previously, it was legal and encouraged. Now, perhaps, it is condemned. Therefore, we decided to bring flowers today, not on October 30. We are not getting into politics... Each of us has someone among our distant relatives who suffered during the Stalin era - some were dispossessed and sent to Siberia, others were convicted for jokes about Stalin. Different fates. Tragic fates. We remember them, we commemorate them," said a young man on the condition of anonymity.

The student said that on November 1 at the monument "Departing into the Sky," he did not see either police or "plainclothes officers." He also noted that at the university where the participants of the action study, there were no memorial events dedicated to the topic of Stalin's repressions, and at the conferences that took place at the university in recent days, "not a word was said about political repressions and their victims."

Under Stalin, mass arrests, deportations, and executions based on nationality were carried out, entire nations were declared "hostile," according to a report by "The Caucasian Knot" "10 myths about Stalin's role in the Great Patriotic War". The decision on which nations to subject to repressions directly depended on Stalin, historian and member of the Association of Researchers of Russian Society Boris Sokolov told "The Caucasian Knot" in 2022.