Putin denies accusations of Stalinism

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – April 25, 2013) President Vladimir Putin said his methods don’t have anything in common with those of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, and that the trials of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the members of the Pussy Riot feminist punk group were not politically motivated.

Putin made the remarks in response to a question from Alexei Venediktov, Editor-in-Chief of the Ekho Moskvy radio station, during Putin’s live call-in show on Thursday.

“No one is jailing them on purpose,” he said of the trials. As for Navalny’s trial, he pointed out that he had already said that the case must be investigated objectively.

Navalny, a blogger and anti-corruption activist, is being tried in Kirov on charges of embezzling 16 million rubles ($500,000) worth of timber while serving as a voluntary adviser to the Kirov region Governor Nikita Belykh. Navalny pleaded not guilty to the charges during the first hearing of his trial on Wednesday, and called the trial “political revenge.”

Three members of Pussy Riot were jailed last spring after their punk prayer performance in February 2012 on the ambo of Christ the Savior Cathedral.

Putin said that Stalinism was characterized by a cult of personality while Russia today did not have such a cult.