PHOTO: Emperor Nicholas II and Joseph Stalin

The Sakhalin regional branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation has demanded the dismantling of a monument to Emperor Nicholas II, which was recently installed in the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and replacing it with a monument to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

Recall that a bust-monument to the Holy Passion-Bearer Nicholas II was unveiled and consecrated on 23rd August 2026, on the grounds of the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ, situated on Victory Square inYuzhno-Sakhalinsk (from 1882 to 1905 – Vladimirovka, from 1905-1946 – Toyohara (from Japanese), situated on Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East.

The Communists consider it inappropriate to place a monument to Russia’s last Tsar, since it was during the reign of Nicholas II that Russia was defeated in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and handed over the southern part of Sakhalin to Japan.

The Sakhalin regional branch of the Communist Party also recalled that shortly before the opening of the monument, Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi again announced territorial claims against Russia. Therefore, the installation of the monument to Nicholas II can be perceived as a political signal and used by Japanese propaganda, party members believe.

PHOTO: local communists want to replace this
monument to Nicholas II with one of Joseph Stalin

As an alternative to the monument to the emperor, the Communists put forward a proposal to erect a monument to Joseph Stalin on the same square, thanks to whom South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands returned to the USSR in 1945. The proposal was sent to Sakhalin Governor Valery Limarenko, regional prosecutor Vladimir Shaibekov, deputies of the regional Duma, Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The communists proposal caused a wide public outcry. Many citizens support the proposal, believing that the memory of Stalin should be immortalized in historically significant places. Others, however, expressed their concerns about the need to erect a monument to persons associated with political repressions and terror, which affected tens of millions of people during the Bolshevik and later Soviet years.

One has to wonder if the Sakhalin Communists asked themselves – “why” would an Orthodox Church, want a monument to Stalin, the Soviet leader who declared war on the Church, ordering the demolition and closure of thousands of Orthodox churches, cathedrals and monasteries and the execution and imprisonment of thousands of priests, monks and nuns?

© Paul Gilbert. 27 August 2026