Stalin's legacy: Sociologists expose growing divide between Ukraine and Russia
Residents of Russia chose Stalin as the national hero (photo: Getty Images)
Stalin remains the Russians' national hero. The positive attitude of Russian citizens toward murderers and tyrants clearly demonstrates how different the peoples of Russia and Ukraine are, says KMIS.
Sociologists present data showing that 63% of Russians have a positive attitude toward Stalin, while only 4% of Ukrainians do.
"The gap in the percentage of those with a positive view of Stalin in Ukraine and Russia is increasing, and this chart clearly shows how much the countries have diverged. Murderers are becoming national heroes in Russia," the publication states.
Comparison of positive attitude towards Stalin in Ukraine and Russia, %
Survey by Levada Center
KMIS notes that this week, Levada Center released data from its April survey on who is considered the most outstanding person of all time.
"Russia's national hero, Joseph Stalin, once again took first place, with even better results than last time," the publication reports.
Survey results: Most outstanding people of all time (Russia, April 2025)
- Stalin 42%
- Putin 31%
- Lenin 28%
- Pushkin 24%
- Peter the Great 19%
- Yuri Gagarin 15%
- Georgy Zhukov 13%
- Catherine the Great 9%
- Brezhnev 8%
- Mendeleev 8%
- Einstein 8%
- Lomonosov 8%
- Lermontov 8%
- Suvorov 8%
- Zhirinovsky 7%
- Korolev 6%
- Tolstoy 5%
- Newton 5%
- Kutuzov 5%
- Ivan the Terrible 4%
Attitude of Russian residents toward the war and Stalin
According to Levada Center's data, as of May 2025, support for the war among Russian residents reached 80%. This level was previously recorded in March 2022 and February 2025.
In Russia, between 2012 and 2023, the percentage of those with a positive view of Stalin rose from 28% to 63%. In Ukraine, only 4% remain supporters of Stalin.
