ABSTRACT
In Chapter 6, re-Stalinization – Putin’s memory politics of whitewashing Stalin and his regime by pandering to the cult of the victory in World War II – is used to contextualize the rise of political neomedievalism in Russia. Like neomedieval memory politics, re-Stalinization is conducted through state and grassroots initiatives, legislation, the production of popular films, TV series, and works of fiction, monuments, the opening of pro-Kremlin memorials, museums, and institutions, and the closing of institutions famous for their human rights activism, such as Perm-36 and the International Memorial Society. An overview of these activities under Putin reveals a structural resemblance between re-Stalinization and political neomedievalism. It demonstrates that the tradition of collocating the oprichnina and Stalinism has facilitated the Kremlin’s merger of the two. An examination of the actions by the Wagner Group (a private army that has regenerated Stalinist practices of terror in Ukraine) reinforces the conclusion that re-Stalinization and political neomedievalism advance the same values and social and political goals. They both historicize state terror and present it as Russia’s heritage.
