Authorities and Vandals Destroy Memorials: How Many and Where?According to 7x7’s findings, since the start of Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, authorities and unidentified individuals have destroyed or damaged at least 25 memorials to victims of political repression in the USSR across 15 Russian regions. Eleven were completely destroyed or dismantled, while another 11 were stripped of individual elements. The highest number of such incidents was recorded in Tomsk Oblast, a region in Siberia. In April 2026, Tomsk authorities dismantled the Stone of Sorrow and memorials to Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, and Kalmyks who had suffered repression. City Hall justified the removal by citing the “risk of a garage collapsing” and the need to stabilize a slope. In Novosibirsk, unidentified individuals tore a plaque off a foundation stone in Narymsky Square. It commemorated victims of state terror whose graves or burial sites remain unknown. City authorities refused to restore the plaque. Moreover, officials have indicated that the stone itself may be removed in 2027–2028. Another incident occurred in Yakutsk, in eastern Russia. In 2023, authorities dismantled a memorial to Poles exiled to the region between the 17th and 20th centuries. Workers removed stones bearing the names of those who had suffered repression. In September 2026, a monument to two Russian soldiers killed during the invasion of Ukraine was erected in their place. Memorials dedicated to members of specific ethnic groups who suffered repression have been particularly frequent targets. According to 7x7’s findings, 21 of the 25 memorials commemorated Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Germans, Latvians, and Hungarians. Poles were commemorated in 18 of the cases. In late 2022, unidentified individuals in Tomsk Oblast broke a cross in the village of Polozovo, removed plaques in Belostok, and damaged several memorials in Tomsk itself. Small memorial plaques installed as part of the Last Address project have also been disappearing. Since 2014, participants in the project have placed plaques bearing the names of people arrested and killed by the Soviet authorities on the buildings where they lived. The plaques serve as a reminder that behind every name was an individual human life. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, more than a hundred such plaques have disappeared from building facades across Russia. Most were located in Moscow and St. Petersburg. They were removed by municipal maintenance workers, building residents, and unidentified individuals. Why Are Memorials to Victims of Political Repression Being Destroyed in Russia?Officials give various reasons for removing memorials: building repairs, street improvements, and pedestrian safety. But researchers of historical memory link the removals to changes in state policy and the Russian authorities’ attitude toward the Soviet past. One reason is the reluctance to acknowledge Soviet crimes against other nations, according to historical memory researcher Aleksandra Polivanova. A telling example is Katyn, near Smolensk in western Russia. In the spring of 1940, officers of the NKVD, the Soviet political police, executed nearly 22,000 Polish citizens. The victims included military personnel, police officers, and government officials. Around 4,400 of them are buried in the Katyn Forest. For decades, the Soviet Union denied responsibility for the killings and blamed Germany. It was not until 1990 that the Soviet leadership acknowledged the crime. In recent years, Russian politicians have once again begun demanding changes to Polish memorials. In 2023, lawmakers and public figures in Smolensk and Tver proposed dismantling the Polish sections of the Katyn and Mednoye memorial complexes. In November 2025, the administration of the Katyn Memorial Complex removed images of Polish military decorations. Prosecutors authorized the removal, citing Russian cultural heritage laws. “While the Russian authorities’ official narratives are still prepared to acknowledge crimes against their own citizens, they are completely unwilling to acknowledge international crimes, because doing so would be a major blow to the country’s image,” Polivanova explained to 7x7. In her view, acknowledging Soviet aggression against neighboring countries would also force people to reconsider Russia’s current war against Ukraine. The authorities are also stepping up pressure on those who research Soviet political repression. In April 2026, Russia’s Supreme Court designated Memorial an “extremist movement” and banned its activities in the country. For decades, the organization had collected information about victims of state terror, searched for mass burial sites, and helped families discover what had happened to their relatives. But government decisions are not the only reason memorials disappear. Sometimes local residents themselves oppose them. Last Address activist Anna Narinskaya told 7x7 that municipal maintenance workers removed memorial plaques from her building in central Moscow in 2023. Before that, neighbors had said they did not want to turn the building into a cemetery or tell their children about crimes committed by their own country. How Are Relatives of Victims of Political Repression Responding?For descendants of victims of political repression, the destruction of memorials means more than the loss of a piece of local history. Many families spent decades trying to find out where their loved ones had died and what had happened to them. In March 2026, Yulia (whose name has been changed), a resident of Novosibirsk, visited a memorial in Narymsky Square with her child. She told the child about her great-grandmother’s brothers, who had been repeatedly arrested in the 1930s and eventually executed for “anti-Soviet agitation.” A month later, unidentified individuals tore a plaque off a nearby memorial stone. Yulia sees this as an insult to the memory of those who died. She says that even visiting a memorial can now lead to an encounter with the police. On the anniversary of opposition politician Alexei Navalny’s death, law enforcement officers checked her documents and searched her, even though she explained that she had come to honor her relatives. “You want to tell your child about your family’s tragedy, but instead you find yourself having to dodge police officers. I can only describe it as a slap in the face,” Yulia said. Despite the pressure, relatives and activists continue working to preserve the memory of those who died. In Tomsk, residents attached a paper copy of a torn-off plaque to a memorial stone. On the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea, unidentified individuals wrote on stones that memorials to Ukrainians and Poles had once stood there. In Vladimir, people brought flowers, candles, and photographs of the missing memorial plaques. Some volunteers are documenting destroyed memorials. One of them is Denis (whose name has been changed), who is compiling a list of such sites in Novgorod Oblast. His family was also affected by Stalinist terror: his great-grandmother’s brother was executed in 1937, and his wife was sent to a labor camp for ten years. Denis believes that it is now almost impossible to stop the destruction of memorials. But he hopes that one day people will be able to restore them. | 
