




To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the key World War II victory, regional lawmakers decided to use the city's Communist-era name in for the day and on other key anniversaries through the year.

Five coaches bearing portraits of the moustachioed dictator will operate as part of the "Victory Bus" initiative.


"It's blasphemous to rename the great Russian city after a bloody tyrant who killed millions of his fellow citizens," said Nikolai Levichev a senior federal lawmaker with the leftist Just Russia party.

"This is an insult to the memory of those who died," Russia's human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin told Interfax news agency.

The city was renamed Volgograd in 1961 as part of the Soviet Union's rejection of the Stalin personality cult.


"We don't paint swastikas. Thank God, Communist ideology and Stalin's image have not been officially condemned. We only urge the preservation of memory of the WWII victory and people who contributed to it," organiser Aleksey Roerich told Izvestia.


The so-called "Stalinobuses" will operate in Volgograd until 9 May when Russia celebrates the final victory of the so-called Great Patriotic War. Stalin's image will also appear on vehicles in the streets of St Petersburg and Chita.


Stalin Bus
Five coaches bearing portraits of the moustachioed dictator have been allowed to operate in 'Stalingrad' (Victory Bus)