An unknown person has “decapitated” a bust of Joseph Stalin, which was placed in a park near Moscow, according to Russian media.
“On Saturday, in a park in Zvenigorod (a city about 40 km from the Russian capital), a man in an abnormal state chopped off the head of a bust of Stalin with a sledgehammer,” a police source told the Ria Novosti news agency.
Wanted
Moscow region police told Ria Novosti that the suspect is wanted by law enforcement authorities.
A Telegram channel covering local news broadcast a video showing the alleged attacker approaching a monument holding a blunt object and weighing down on it. There is laughter and shouting in Russian in this video.
Ostorojno Novosti published a photo of Stalin’s bust with his head close to his shoulders.
The suspect is also believed to have damaged a bust of Lenin in the same park, according to another photo provided by this source.
According to this media outlet, this monument to Stalin had been installed by a group of activists in the summer of 2023 without the agreement of the local authorities, who, however, did not remove the monument, despite protests from residents against its presence.
Sources: AMPE, AFP