Representatives of the Greek community remembered those killed during the years of repression.

In the village of Merchanskoye in the Crimea district, where the first memorial to the Greeks who were victims of Stalin's repressions is installed, those gathered held a mourning rally and laid flowers at the memorial, with representatives of the authorities participating in the event.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", historian and researcher of the deportations of Soviet Greeks Ivan Dzhukha stated that during the NKVD operation against the Greeks in the Krasnodar region, more than 5,000 people were shot. At the event in Kabardinka on October 30, 2025, those gathered remembered the victims of Stalin's repressions. During the Great Terror, NKVD officers arrested 13,500 Greeks, 11,000 of whom were shot, reported historian Ivan Dzhukha.

The authorities reported on the event commemorating the Greeks who were victims of repression

A mourning event dedicated to the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Political Repressions took place in the village of Merchanskoye in the Crimea district.

Residents of the village, representatives of the Crimea district administration and the Merchanskoye rural settlement administration, as well as members of the Local National-Cultural Autonomy of Greeks of the municipal formation Crimea district, gathered at the memorial to the victims of political repressions. They honored the memory of the villagers shot in the 1930s and 1940s, reported the Crimea district administration on its Telegram channel.

A requiem service for the innocently killed was conducted by the rector of the church, Archpriest Vladimir Frolov. Representatives of the district and village administrations, as well as Alexander Masiadi, the chairman of the Public Organization "Local National-Cultural Autonomy of Greeks of the municipal formation Crimea district," addressed those gathered.

Among the many peoples whose fates were shattered by this tragedy, the Greek community of the USSR occupies a special place, writes the Greek Society of Krasnodar "Greek National-Cultural Autonomy 'ROMIOSINI'.

In the 1930s, mass repressions against Greeks living on the Black Sea coast, in Crimea, in the Caucasus, and in the Azov region began. Greeks were accused of "espionage in favor of Greece," "counter-revolutionary activities," and connections with foreign diasporas. Arrests occurred in waves: not only those "suspicious" by origin were targeted, but also teachers, priests, collective farmers, and workers. The culmination was the so-called "Greek operation" of the NKVD in 1937-1938. By directive No. 50215 dated December 11, 1937, tens of thousands of Greeks were arrested over several months. People were tried under expedited procedures of the "troikas," often without the right to defense. Many were shot, others sent to camps, the report states.

In the 1930s, mass repressions against Greeks living on the Black Sea coast, in Crimea, in the Caucasus, and in the Azov region began. Greeks were accused of "espionage in favor of Greece," "counter-revolutionary activities," and connections with foreign diasporas. Arrests occurred in waves: not only those "suspicious" by origin were targeted, but also teachers, priests, collective farmers, and workers.

The historian pointed to Stalin's responsibility for the repressions against the Greeks.

The culmination was the so-called "Greek operation" of the NKVD in 1937-1938. By directive No. 50215 dated December 11, 1937, tens of thousands of Greeks were arrested over several months. People were tried under expedited procedures of the "troikas," often without the right to defense. Many were shot, others sent to camps, reported the society "Greeks of Russia" on its website.

On December 11, 1937, People's Commissar Yezhov signed a directive according to which the NKVD uncovered a "broad network of Greek spies." On the night of December 14-15, arrests of Greeks began across the USSR. This is how the so-called "Greek operation" proceeded.

"My grandfather hid in someone else's house in the attic and sat there for 10 days until the arrests began to decline. The owners fed him, and he did not appear on the street or at work during all those days. He worked as a cart driver, transporting sandstone from the quarry for construction needs. On December 24, he returned home, believing that the trouble had passed, and that same night they came for him," quoted Ivan Dzhukha's words by "Govorits NeMoskva" (registered as a foreign agent).

The main document was the Politburo decision with Stalin's personal signature.

According to Dzhukha, denunciations were not the reason for the arrests and mass shootings. "The main document was the Politburo decision with Stalin's personal signature. Regional NKVD offices were given a plan for how many people they should arrest. This plan indicated how many of them should be shot and how many sent to camps. Exactly the same directives, like a template, were written for the cleansing of other ethnic groups. The Greek operation was the 13th in a series of such national operations. The myth of Stalin's non-involvement, the myth that all this is the fault of informers, is firmly rooted and supported by propaganda and people's ignorance," emphasized the historian.

The website "Greeks of Russia" provides information on where memorials to the victims of repression among Greeks are located. In the village of Merchanskoye in the Crimea district of Krasnodar Krai (the first memorial to the Greeks who were victims of Stalin's repressions was opened in 1988), in the village of Vityazevo in Anapa, the memorial bell of all-Greek memory in Krasnodar (at the All Saints Memorial Cemetery), in Kabardinka, Abinsk, Novorossiysk, in the village of Lesnoye in Greater Sochi, in the space of the Greek community "Prometheus" in Vladikavkaz, in the Donetsk People's Republic, the memorial cross in memory of the Greeks who were victims of Stalin's repressions in the 1930s in Magadan (opened on September 10, 2011).

It should be noted that October 30 has been observed in Russia since 1991 as the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Political Repressions. In 2021, in particular, residents and guests of Sochi laid flowers at the memorial to the victims of repression on this day. The era of the 1930s in the USSR can be compared to the present, when people end up in prison for their political views, noted Sochi residents surveyed by the "Caucasian Knot" at that time.