A group of nationalists brought portraits of Nazi leaders to a gathering in St. Petersburg meant to commemorate the victims of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's purges, a news report said Sunday.
Russians, whose loved ones perished in the purges, brought pictures of their family members to the gathering in the city's Troitskaya Square, the Grani.ru news portal reported.
The meeting was held on the anniversary of the founding on Dec. 20, 1917 of the Soviet secret police, VChK, a predecessor of the KGB.
But the commemorative assembly was interrupted by a few dozen nationalists, who arrived with portraits of Nazi leaders Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, and Soviet secret police chief Genrikh Yagoda – calling them “victims of Stalin's purges.”
?€?Oh well, everybody has come with portraits of their relatives,?€? prominent Russian blogger Vadim Lurye said on his Facebook page.
He did not elaborate on the gathering's response.
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