A monument to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and metallurgist Ivan Bardin was unveiled in Cherepovets on July 19 on Metallurgov Street. The life-size bronze group depicts Stalin pointing Bardin toward a bright future while Bardin writes in a notebook.
The monument was installed on the initiative of Vologda Oblast Governor Georgy Filimonov and funded from the regional budget, according to the outlet Sirena. Filimonov called both men “outstanding historical figures thanks to whom Cherepovets became one of the country’s largest industrial centers.”
The ceremony was attended by Alexander “Khirurg” Zaldostanov, leader of the Night Wolves motorcycle club. Hundreds of local residents gathered, with flags of the ruling United Russia and the opposition A Just Russia — For Truth party flying in the crowd. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) boycotted the event entirely, Sirena reported: local party chief Alexander Morozov forbade members from participating, calling it “someone else’s political games.”
In his speech, Filimonov called for “perceiving Russia’s history as a single, indivisible whole” and for “respecting and preserving all historical heritage, drawing lessons from it.” He also supported the idea of naming a street in Cherepovets after Stalin.
As the outlet 7×7 notes, since December 2024 Stalin monuments have appeared in the Vologda Oblast at the Vologda Exile Museum-Reserve in Vologda, near the local history museum in Kaduy, and at a school in Nikolsk. In August 2024, Filimonov posted a photo of a painting showing him shaking hands with Stalin, captioning it: “Hangs in the reception area. A gift from not long ago. Conceptually.” His office also displays portraits of Stalin, NKVD chief Lavrenty Beria, Cheka founder Felix Dzerzhinsky, Chinese leader Mao Zedong, and President Vladimir Putin.