At a Press conference, held in the Russian capital, the participants announced that no later than October 2016 a monument, dedicated to the victims of political repressions throughout Russia, will appear in Moscow.

The monument will stand on the corner where the Prospect Academician Sakharov crosses the Garden Ring.

The members of the press conference, whose purpose was to announce the start of a competition to produce a design for “A Monument to the victims of political repressions”, included the RF Ombudsman for human rights, Ella Pamfilova; the Secretary of the Public Chamber of the RF, Aleksandr Vladimirovich Brechalov; the Head of the Department of Culture of the city of Moscow, Sergei Aleksandrovich Kalkov; the Director of the Museum of the Gulag, Roman Vladimirovich Romanov; the Chair of the Board of the International Memorial Society, Arseny Borisovich Roginsky, and also the Russian civic activist, and member of the human rights movement, Liudmila Mikhailovna Alekseeva.

The idea of a memorial in Moscow to the victims of political repressions was discussed at the 14 October 2014 meeting of the President, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, with members of the Council on human rights in the Russian Federation.

On 24 November came an announcement that, in light of the discussion, Vladimir Putin had commissioned the Mayor of Moscow and the President’s Administration to undertake the creating of a new monument, in Moscow, to the victims of political repressions.

The human rights activists suggested the Prospect Academician Sakharov as the site for the monument.

Sergei Kalkov, Minister of the Moscow City Government and Head of the Department of Culture, pointed out that a national monument to the memory of victims of political repressions, erected in the name of the government and reflecting the scale of the tragedy, still did not exist. In his own words, ‘The need to create an appropriate monument is clear. This will be a monument to our remembering and to ourselves. A monument, in Moscow, to the victims of political repressions, will not only preserve and pass on the memory of the tragedy, but also steer us towards thinking that terrorist methods of governance by the state are inadmissible, that human life is of the highest value, and that each individual is responsible for the future of the country’.

The Museum of the Gulag is to organize an open competition for the design of “A Monument to the victims of political repressions”. Applications may be submitted from 12 February 2015. There will be an exhibition of the designs entered for the competition in the Museum of the Gulag’s new building on 22 May 2015. The winners of the competition will be announced on 30 October 2015, the Day of remembering victims of political repression. Detailed information on the competition – see konkurs.gmig. ru

Translated by Mary McAuley