Earlier in December, big billboards appeared in the western Russian city of Voronezh inviting locals to a free party. A birthday party for Josef Stalin.

Not everyone in the city of about 1 million, however, is flattered by the invitation to celebrate the 140th birthday of the late dictator, who was responsible for the persecution and killing of millions of his own citizens when he ruled the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953.

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