Russians struggle to keep alive memory of Stalin's victims

A woman keeps a flower next to the grave of a victim of political repression between 1937 and 1954, at Levashovo Memorial cemetery on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg, Russia, October 30, 2023. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov

ST PETERSBURG (Reuters) - Russians came in dribs and drabs to lay flowers on Monday to the victims of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's purges, on an official day of remembrance largely shunned by an establishment keen to blank out reminders of Russia's troubled past.

Natalia Anafonova came to St Petersburg's Levashov Cemetery to honour her great-grandfather.