Joseph Stalin

Cannibalism and genocide: the horrific visions of Ukraine’s best loved artist

Maria Prymachenko created seemingly happy scenes of rural life. But look closer and you see the terror unleashed on her country by Stalin. Now her work has once again become a national symbol, duplicated at rallies worldwide

Jonathan Jones

18, Mar, 2022 @12:00 PM

A new treaty will not end the war in Ukraine | Letters

Letters: Blaine Stothard says Russia has no intention of respecting existing treaties, so another one would be futile. Peter Wilson thinks the sheer power of Vladimir Putin’s narcissistic desperation should not be underestimated

Letters

14, Mar, 2022 @6:00 PM

Stalin’s Library by Geoffrey Roberts review – the marks of a leader

Joseph Stalin owned about 20,000 books, many with jottings in the margin. Does his library hold the key to his character?

Amelia Gentleman

16, Feb, 2022 @7:30 AM

The Observer view on a decade of North Korea under Kim Jong-un | Observer editorial

After his father’s death, he was propelled to the top of the totalitarian dynasty. How has he been allowed to last so long?

Observer editorial

19, Dec, 2021 @6:30 AM

Skin by Sergio del Molino review – a meditation on psoriasis and the psyche

A sufferer writes about how the skin condition affected figures as diverse as Joseph Stalin, John Updike and Cyndi Lauper

Houman Barekat

29, Oct, 2021 @6:30 AM

Masked men storm Moscow screening of film about Stalin-era famine

Authorities question staff of Russian NGO Memorial after mob disrupts screening of Mr Jones at its office

Pjotr Sauer in Moscow

15, Oct, 2021 @12:36 PM

UK ambassador angers Iran with ‘insulting’ embassy photo gaffe

Russian counterpart tweets photo of pair in chairs like those sat in by Churchill and Stalin in 1943 when Iran was occupied

Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor

12, Aug, 2021 @10:41 AM

State Funeral review – the eerie last rites of Stalin’s Soviet Union

Massed mourners hail the dictator’s flower-clad body in a film that gives long-lost footage a new and unnerving lease of life

Peter Bradshaw

19, May, 2021 @4:00 PM

‘It’s impossible to take your eyes off this infinitely dear face’: the startling film about Stalin’s funeral

Crafted from footage locked for years in an archive, Sergei Loznitsa’s State Funeral focuses on the motivations of the mourners who lived under the brutal regime

Alex von Tunzelmann

14, May, 2021 @7:00 AM

Stalin statue site reveals chilling remains of Prague labour camp

Archaeologists have discovered foundations of the previously unknown structure in the city’s Letná park

Robert Tait

28, Mar, 2021 @8:45 AM

'A lifetime sentence': children of the gulag fight to return from exile

Millions of Soviet citizens were sent to vast network of prison camps under Stalin. Now their descendants seek recompense

Andrew Roth in Moscow

23, Feb, 2021 @6:00 AM

Russian museum director who exposed Soviets to hidden masterpieces dies at 98

Irina Antonova, head of Pushkin Museum for 52 years, brought Mona Lisa to Moscow despite cold war