A bust of Joseph Stalin was doused with paint in the Bashkir village of Amirovo.

“Bashkortostan is not a place for monuments to tyrants and executioners. More than 50,000 representatives of our people became victims of Stalin’s repressions. In addition to us, Tatars, Chuvashes, and even Russians themselves have gone through this path,” the organization “Bez Kara Khalyk” stated on its Telegram channel.

A local resident erected a monument to Stalin on private property in May. He proposed to place it in the center of the village, but the residents opposed it.

In 1944, Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin ordered the deportation of Chechens and Ingush from the North Caucasus to Central Asia and Siberia. This act was recognized as genocide by many countries around the world and the European Parliament. Half a million people were forced to leave their homes. The number of victims during the deportation exceeded a third of the total number of peoples. The Soviet government confiscated the houses, land and all property of the settlers.

In addition to the Chechens and Ingush, the Karachays, Balkars, Crimean Tatars, Bashkirs, Koreans, Kalmyks, Germans, Ingrian Finns, Meskhetian Turks - more than a dozen ethnic groups in total - were subjected to total forced resettlement to the USSR.