The request was made on the 71st anniversary of Stalin’s death on March 5, 1953. An autopsy found he died from a haemorrhagic stroke following years of health issues, including an earlier stroke and heart attack in 1945, but conspiracy theories have long circulated about potential foul play.
Stalin’s reputation has undergone a rehabilitation in recent years of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reign, with Stalinists expressing admiration for a man responsible for mass executions, a network of labor camps and forced starvation.
In 2018, Russia refused to screen a British black comedy film, “The Death of Stalin,” about the dictator’s final hours, with an official from the country’s culture ministry saying it “insults our historic symbols.”
