Putin believes that it is too early to objectively evaluate Nicholas II, Lenin and Stalin

President Vladimir Putin, speaking about the 1160th anniversary of the birth of Russian statehood, listed the outstanding compatriots involved in the formation of Russia. Among the many names, Mr. Putin specifically mentioned Nicholas II, Lenin and Stalin, as he hesitated whether to name them at the gala in Veliky Novgorod. The President’s words website Kremlin.

“Over the past more than a millennium, our statehood has gone through different eras, including brutal invasions of enemies, fragmentation and tragedies of civil strife, but each such difficult period invariably ended with the revival of the Fatherland,” Vladimir Putin noted and listed the people involved in increasing the greatness of Russia – from prophetic Oleg to Yuri Gagarin.

“These and many other of our compatriots were large-scale, complex, sometimes contradictory historical figures,” Mr. Putin said. According to the president, some of them saw the future of Russia in their own way.

“You know, I either wrote in this text or crossed out such names as Nicholas II, Lenin, Stalin. Apparently, not much time has passed from a historical point of view in order to give full-fledged objective assessments, devoid of the current political situation,” Vladimir Putin said. However, they, including, and most importantly, all our people have made Russia a great world power, Mr. Putin stressed.

Maria Fedotova