Stalinism is not alive in Russia: Putin

Moscow, April 25 (IANS/RIA Novosti) President Vladimir Putin Thursday said he sees no resemblance between Russia's current political course and that of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's regime.

"Stalinism is connected to the cult of personality, massive legal abuses, repressions and [labor] camps. There are no such things in Russia, and I hope they will never happen again," Putin said during a radio interview when asked about "overtones of Stalinism" during this first year of his third presidential term.

Putin insisted, nevertheless, that there should be "order and discipline" in the country, referring to the imprisonment of the all-female Pussy Riot punk band and a string of probes into opposition political activists cited by Venediktov.

Those people were jailed "not for their political views" but for "legal violations", Putin said.

Opposition campaigners compare what they claim is a recent crackdown on critics of the Kremlin to Stalin-era purges. Putin maintains that a recent NGO law and checks made recently on NGOs are necessary to show where their funding comes from.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

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