A full-length sculptural relief of Joseph Stalin was reinstalled in Moscow's Taganskaya metro station as part of efforts to restore original designs. The work, a 3D-printed copy of a 1950 original, has been criticized by art historian Elizaveta Likhacheva as poorly made and crudely painted. Visitors have laid flowers at the site, while critics note that over 95 Stalin monuments have been installed under Vladimir Putin's rule, including in occupied Ukrainian territories.
The reappearance of Stalin imagery in Moscow's metro matters because it reflects the Putin regime's broader campaign to rehabilitate Soviet symbols and suppress historical memory. Sergei Lukashevsky, exiled director of the shuttered Sakharov Center, calls the sculpture an insult to Stalin's victims and part of a battle against living memory. The controversy highlights how art and heritage are being weaponized to glorify state power amid Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.