The transfer of events in Volgograd for the Day of Remembrance of Victims of Repression to online format is due to security concerns.

The international action "Return of Names" in the Volgograd region took place online for security reasons - a number of activists who previously participated in the reading of the names of the repressed are under criminal prosecution.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", October 30 has been marked in Russia since 1991 as the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repression. In Russia, memorial events are increasingly held online.

Memorial events for the repressed have gone online

The coordinator of the project "Stone of Stumbling" under conditions of anonymity told the correspondent of "Caucasian Knot" that in 2026 the international action in memory of the victims of political repression "Return of Names" is taking place in the Volgograd region in an online format. According to the coordinator, this decision is forced.

"Since 2025, employees of the Center "E" regularly patrol near the monument to the victims of political repression "Going to the Sky" in the center of Volgograd. In such conditions, we cannot conduct public readings of names as we did before," the interlocutor explained.

The coordinator of the human rights project reported that the event organizers invited Volgograd residents who currently live abroad to record short videos and explain why it is important for them to remember political repression and return the names of its victims. The action was attended by editor Maria Khudoyarova, publicist Konstantin Kachalov, writer Andrey Proshakov, journalist Vyacheslav Yashchenko.

"In addition, we invited residents of the Volgograd region to independently record the reading of the names of the repressed and send us audio recordings. As a result, we received about a dozen such recordings. On October 29, we will publish them along with video messages on the Telegram channel of the project "Stone of Stumbling," the activist said.

The interlocutor noted that for the organizers of the memorial readings, "it is especially important that some participants of the 'Return of Names' remembered not only the victims of Soviet terror but also modern political prisoners." Participants of the readings drew parallels between the repressions of the past and the political persecutions of today.

"This shows that our action provides an opportunity to reflect on why state violence becomes possible, how society reacts to it, and what we can do to prevent such tragedies from happening again in the future," the project coordinator said.

An anonymous interlocutor reported that the organizers of the readings prepared a selection of places throughout the Lower Volga and Don regions where residents of the region can come on October 29 and 30, read names, and lay flowers.

Public activity in Volgograd is limited against the backdrop of attention from security forces

"We think that there will be no detentions, as there were none in previous years, since even representatives of the Volgograd administration lay flowers at the monument to the victims of political repression on October 30 year after year. But despite this, we still ask everyone to be as careful as possible," the organizer of the reading of names warned.

Volgograd local historian Andrey Kudинов admitted that he has not participated in memorial events lately - "neither in person nor remotely." After the arrest of legal expert Roman Melnychenko and the sentencing of activist Ruslan Nurushev, Kudинов refused "to make any open statements on contemporary issues." And so, he said, did all the Volgograd activists and human rights defenders he knows.

"As before, for the last 30 years, relatives and close friends (who are still in this world) gather at my home and remember, without toasting, our ancestors who were destroyed by Stalin - both those who were for the whites and those who were for the reds during the Civil War. And in the family on the maternal line and on the paternal line - most of our Cossacks went through exiles and camps in Siberia when they were dekulakized in 1931," Andrey said.

Kudинов noted that his nephew passed by the monument to the victims of political repression "Going to the Sky" on October 29, which is located on the Central Embankment near the Panorama Museum "Stalingrad Battle."

"He (the nephew) did not notice any events there. He saw flowers lying at the pedestal. But not many. The police, he says, were not nearby. I also did not hear that the mayor's office or the regional administration planned an official memorial event on October 30 - there is no information about this on their websites. The Day of the Komsomol was celebrated today on Lenin Avenue. But those who were repressed under Stalin were not remembered ... Previously, memorial events were held annually, relatives of the repressed were invited, mournful speeches were made. But nothing like that has been held since last year. On the contrary, now the profile of Dzerzhinsky is projected at night on the facade of the GUVD building on Krasnoznamenskaya, and the reliefs of the leader of the peoples have been returned to the facade of the Medical University," the local historian noted.

Andrey Kudинов reminded the correspondent that according to data collected by experts in the 1990s, about 250,000 people suffered from Stalin's repressions in the Volgograd (then Stalingrad) region.

Volgograd publicist Andrey Proshakov, answering the correspondent's question about whether Volgograd activists held memorial events on October 29, replied that he very much hopes that they did not.

"Because it will be, as always, a small-scale action. There will be repressions against them, and I would very much like these people to survive. Our trouble is what? If about 50,000 people came, then it would be safe, but if dozens come - there is a real threat (of detention) for them," Proshakov replied.

Andrey Proshakov expressed confidence that the area near the monument to the victims of political repression is "monitored by the special services and police." He reminded the correspondent that last year, before the detentions, "provocateurs with video cameras" approached the activists (propagandists Sergey Mazanov and Roman Potolovsky, who previously disclosed the personal data of activists on television).

"I am sure that surveillance is being conducted. The community of security officials will not miss the opportunity to receive bonuses, titles. This (the area near the monument "Going to the Sky") is a baited place for them. Today they are watching those who, having lost the instinct of self-preservation, will come to the monument," Andrey Proshakov stated.

The publicist told stories of the Cossacks of the Medvedev farm (Ilovlinsky district), who were repressed in 1930-1933 during collectivization. Andrey spoke about the fates of several families of dekulakized villagers, their resistance to the regime, and the miraculous rescue of the parents of one of the Volgograd sculptors. Andrey also mentioned that several years ago he built a memorial well at the site of the exile of the repressed Cossacks of the Medvedev farm ("the place from where people were taken away").

Under Stalin, mass arrests, deportations, and executions were carried out on ethnic grounds, entire nations were declared "hostile," according to a report by the "Caucasian Knot" "10 myths about Stalin's role in the Great Patriotic War". The decision on which nations to repress depended directly on Stalin, historian and member of the Association of Researchers of Russian Society Boris Sokolov told the "Caucasian Knot" in 2022.