Russian President Vladimir Putin today signed a decree on the formation of a state foundation with the aim of "popularizing" Russian national history, which some scholars consider "a new attempt to rehabilitate the Soviet past".
The History and Fatherland Foundation "aims to popularize Russian national history at home and abroad, as well as to protect the historical heritage and traditions of the Russian people," the decree states.
This initiative comes at a time when the Soviet legacy is still being discussed in Russian society and among university professors, especially in the role of the long-time Soviet leader Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin.
The attitude towards Stalin in Russia is ambivalent. Some believe that he was a tyrant, while others believe that he was the leader of the victory over Nazism.
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