Tag: buildings

New York set to ban gas furnaces, stoves in new buildings

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“We’re going to be the first state in the nation to advance zero-emissions new homes and buildings,” Hochul said Thursday, announcing a conceptual deal on the budget that was due March 31.
The measure will help the state achieve its ambitious mandate to slash emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2030 and 85 percent by 2050 and was recommended in a plan approved in December by state agency heads and outside experts. Exemptions will be included for commercial kitchens, emergency generators and hospitals.
But some key details have not yet been finalized. Hochul also indicated she expects the deal to include rebates to consumers as part of a cap-and-trade initiative for emissions, but a detailed agreement hasn’t been reached on that issue.
There is no measure that eventually bans the replacement of gas furnaces in existing homes included in the budget, which Hochul had proposed and is recommended in the state’s climate plan. Lawmakers rejected that early on in negotiations. And none of the budget proposals included any measure targeting gas stoves in existing buildings.
Details of the agreement will be laid out in state budget bills that have not yet been printed. A potentially major caveat on grid reliability pushed by Assembly Democrats and a major gas utility also hasn’t been finalized, leading environmental advocates to moderate their enthusiasm until they see the final wording.
The Assembly initially proposed a requirement for the state’s Public Service Commission to review the ability of the electric system to support new buildings, although it was not clear how that would function because the requirements for reliable service already enshrined in state law.
“As the governor and legislative leadership continue to hammer out the details, they need to ensure that this is as strong as possible and there aren’t any loopholes,” said Liz Moran, New York policy advocate for Earthjustice. “The technology is ready, and we absolutely have to be doing this to meet our climate law mandates.”
Advocates had pushed for an earlier implementation of the restrictions and pushed back on a later start for commercial buildings. Hochul had initially proposed a split at four stories for the timeline, but environmental groups and Senate Democrats backed seven stories to align with New York City’s zero-emission building law that passed in 2021.

The later date — starting Dec. 31, 2028 — is also expected to apply for commercial buildings and those over 100,000 square feet, Hochul spokesperson Katy Zielinski said.
A measure to end the “100 foot rule” subsidies for new gas hookups, as proposed by Senate Democrats, is not in the budget, Zielinski said. That means utilities will still pass on some costs of hooking up new customers, who they are legally required to serve, to other gas ratepayers.
The state budget will include a provision to allow for rebates to New York residents under a cap-and-trade program that is expected to be rolled out in 2025 and will raise gas prices at the pump and home heating fuel costs. Some additional details about how the funds could be spent may also be included but details are not finalized, according to the governor’s office.
“What we’re doing is setting up a mechanism to be able to allow for rebates that we generate with a cap and invest program,” Hochul said. “We think that is the important first step, because we couldn’t do it under existing law.”
Some environmental advocates had pressed for the Legislature to play more of a role in the parameters of that program, which is expected to be rolled out through regulations by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. It will help the state achieve the emissions reductions required under the 2019 climate law, but Hochul has raised concerns about the costs of the program and sought to rewrite the law to reduce the emissions captured by the measure.
“We’re focusing on aggressive climate protections but we have to make sure that they’re affordable for New Yorkers or it won’t work,” she said.
Hochul also said that a measure to allow the New York Power Authority to build new renewables was included in the deal. The measure will include labor standards, allow but not require NYPA to work with the private sector on renewable projects and includes the “renewable energy access and community help” program for NYPA to provide bill credits to low-income residents to reduce their utility costs, according to the governor’s office.
Assemblymember Ken Zebrowski (D-Rockland County) said the details of the NYPA measure are among the open issues: “Hopefully there is a full agreement soon and everything can go to print, but those details aren’t all worked out yet.”
Hochul also announced the Environmental Protection Fund would be kept at $400 million; $500 million in additional funding would go to water infrastructure.
Lawmakers have also agreed to Hochul’s proposal of $200 million for utility bill relief and $200 million for a NYSERDA program to weatherize and electrify the homes of some low-income New Yorkers.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 29, 2023
‘An inspection could have saved lives’: race to check buildings after New York garage collapse

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Last Tuesday, a nearly 100-year-old four-story garage in Manhattan’s financial district caved in, killing the a building manager, Willis Moore, and injuring five others. An employee who survived the disaster told local reporters that he had witnessed long cracks in the garage’s concrete, and that Moore himself had been trying to warn the owners about the issue.
The tragedy was a blaring wakeup call about the condition of New York City’s parking structures. The professional engineers who inspect garages say there may be more of them in need of immediate fixes.
On Tuesday, the city’s department of buildings (DOB) spokesperson announced that following the disaster, it had compiled a list of other garages with open violations related to structural issues. Out of roughly 4,000 parking structures in New York City, the agency identified 61 garages with “immediately hazardous” violations “related to a failure to maintain the building, and which specifically note structural conditions”, a spokesperson said in a statement.
“While we have not received reports that any of these 61 locations are structurally unstable, DOB inspectors are currently sweeping all of these locations out of an abundance of caution, and in the interest of public safety,” the spokesperson added.
The garage that collapsed in Manhattan had multiple open violations that referenced loose or cracked concrete, dating back to 2003. Eric Cowley, a licensed engineer who inspects New York City parking lots, says photos appear to show a girder supporting the top deck fell “like a diving board” – suggesting the structure was already in disrepair – and that the deck appeared to be covered with a porous road surface, which could have added excessive weight and allowed water to seep in. “I think [the cause of the collapse] was that decision-making, and zero maintenance,” Cowley told the Guardian.
Parking is big business in America’s densest city, and regulation has historically been lax. A covered spot in lower Manhattan can easily run $1,000 a month. To maximize profits, many parking lots operate valet-style, so that employees can cram as many vehicles in the building as possible. But until last year, there were no requirements for New York City parking structures to be regularly inspected by engineers.
After the disaster, the city compiled a list of 61 garages with ‘immediately hazardous’ violations. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
The 57 Ann Street building had four open violations with the city’s department of buildings, with one open violation noting “cracks between girders”, “missing concrete covering steel beams” and “defective concrete with exposed rear cracks”. Another open violation from 2009 noted “loose pieces of concrete in danger of falling at various locations”.
Records show the garage owner paid fines for these violations. A DOB spokesperson said the building had carried out repairs in 2010, though it failed to submit required “certificates of correction” to officially close out the violations. The DOB paid two visits to the garage in 2011 and 2013 and “did not find structural concrete conditions at the building which would have necessitated a violation”, the spokesperson said, adding that no DOB inspector had visited the building in the decade since. A representative for Enterprise Ann, the company operating the garage, said that it “continues to cooperate with the agencies involved to investigate the cause of this accident”.

But garages won’t be able to go unmonitored that long any more. A law that went into effect last year requires New York City garage owners to hire a licensed engineer from a list of 50 “qualified parking structure inspectors” to inspect their structures, at least once every six years. The rule is being phased in across the city, with Manhattan garages up first – the doomed Ann Street garage would have been required to do an inspection by the end of this year. But some outer borough garages won’t have to complete an inspection until late 2027.
Now, owners don’t want to wait. Cowley and other qualified garage inspectors say their phones have been ringing off the hook since last week’s collapse. Jason Damiano, an inspector with Rand Engineering and Architecture, said he had “definitely” seen an increase in requests since last Tuesday, including from the owners of faraway garages in Brooklyn and Queens whose inspections weren’t due for years. He worries the small team of inspectors won’t be able to meet the demand: “It’s good to have the work, but whether I can handle it is the issue.”
A covered spot in Manhattan can run to $1,000 a month. Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
It’s a sharp departure from the usual complacency. Parking spaces are currency, so garages are often reluctant to shut down sections for repairs, Cowley said. “In order to work on one level of a garage, you’d have to take over part of the level below as well. And if you have to work on the ramp, nobody can get in or out.”
The repairs can be costly, so the garages that tend to be more proactive about repairs “are the ones that have the means to do them”, said Rand’s Damiano. He’s seen some garages only take action after pieces of concrete start falling on to customers’ cars: “Eventually you hit a point where car owners are complaining.”
Once inspectors go in, they can find danger quickly. Water dripping from the ceiling is a red flag. The garage’s floor – what engineers call the “traffic membrane” – matters too. Cowley’s firm is repairing a Trump-owned parking garage: “The staff were washing cars on a concrete slab where the original traffic membrane had worn off. So all that water was going into the concrete and coming out downstairs.”
57 Ann isn’t the first New York City garage to collapse. The first floor of a Queens structure buckled in in 1997, forcing the city to halt nearby subway lines to prevent further damage. In 1999, an underground parking garage at a Lower East Side housing complex caved in, crushing cars and leaving a 150ft crater. And in 2010, the facade of a garage on Manhattan’s west side collapsed, raining bricks on to the sidewalk below.
Engineers say part of the tragedy is that it took the city so long to require inspections.
“Certainly, if [57 Ann] had been able to be inspected years ago and was essentially forced to do repairs or to shut down, that could have saved lives,” Damiano said.
“Obviously, these things are mostly catastrophe driven,” Cowley said. “But at least going forward, we’re on top of it. You live and learn, right?”
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

April 28, 2023
UK’s Truss warns of Western ‘weakness’ over China in wake of Macron visit

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LONDON — Former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss will take a not-so-subtle swipe at Emmanuel Macron over his attempt to build bridges with Beijing.
In a Wednesday morning speech to the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, D.C. Truss will argue that too many in the West have “appeased and accommodated” authoritarian regimes in China and Russia.
And she will say it is a “sign of weakness” for Western leaders to visit China and ask premier Xi Jinping for his support in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — just days after Macron’s own high-profile trip there.
While Truss — who left office after just six weeks as crisis-hit U.K. prime minister — will not mention Macron by name, her comments follow an interview with POLITICO in which the French president said Europe should resist pressure to become “America’s followers.”
Macron said: “The question Europeans need to answer … is it in our interest to accelerate [a crisis] on Taiwan? No. The worse thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the U.S. agenda and a Chinese overreaction.”
Macron has already been criticized for those comments by the IPAC group of China-skeptic lawmakers, which said Monday his remarks were “ill-judged.”
And Truss — who had a frosty relationship with Macron during her brief stint in office last year — will use her speech to urge a more aggressive stance toward both China and Russia.
“We’ve seen Vladimir Putin launching an unprovoked attack on a free and democratic neighbor, we see the Chinese building up their armaments and their arsenal and menacing the free and democratic Taiwan,” Truss will say according to pre-released remarks. “Too many in the West have appeased and accommodated these regimes.”

She will add: “Western leaders visiting President Xi to ask for his support in ending the war is a mistake — and it is a sign of weakness. Instead our energies should go into taking more measures to support Taiwan. We need to make sure Taiwan is able to defend itself.”
Relations between Macron and Truss’ successor Rishi Sunak have been notably warmer. The pair hailed a “new chapter” in U.K.-France ties in March, after concluding a deal on cross-Channel migration.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 11, 2023
Poland’s Morawiecki plays Europe’s anti-Macron in Washington

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There’s an Emmanuel Macron-shaped shadow hovering over this week’s U.S. visit by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
In contrast to the French president — who in an interview with POLITICO tried to put some distance between the U.S. and Europe in any future confrontation with China over Taiwan and called for strengthening the Continent’s “strategic autonomy” — the Polish leader is underlining the critical importance of the alliance between America and Europe, not least because his country is one of Kyiv’s strongest allies in the war with Russia.
“Instead of building strategic autonomy from the United States, I propose a strategic partnership with the United States,” he said before flying to Washington.

In the U.S. capital, Morawiecki continued with his under-the-table kicks at the French president.
“I see no alternative, and we are absolutely on the same wavelength here, to building an even closer alliance with the Americans. If countries to the west of Poland understand this less, it is probably because of historical circumstances,” he said on Tuesday in Washington.
Unlike France, which has spent decades bristling at Europe’s reliance on the U.S. for its security, Poland is one of the Continent’s keenest American allies. Warsaw has pushed hard for years for U.S. troops to be stationed on its territory, and many of its recent arms contracts have gone to American companies. It signed a $1.4 billion deal earlier this year to buy a second batch of Abrams tanks, and has also agreed to spend $4.6 billion on advanced F-35 fighter jets.
“I am glad that this proposal for an even deeper strategic partnership is something that finds such fertile ground here in the United States, because we know that there are various concepts formulated by others in Europe, concepts that create more threats, more question marks, more unknowns,” Morawiecki said. “Poland is trying to maintain the most commonsense policy based on a close alliance with the United States within the framework of the European Union, and this is the best path for Poland.”
Fast friends
Poland has become one of Ukraine’s most important allies, and access to its roads, railways and airports is crucial in funneling weapons, ammunition and other aid to Ukraine.
That’s helped shift perceptions of Poland — seen before the war as an increasingly marginal member of the Western club thanks to its issues with violating the rule of law, into a key country of the NATO alliance.
Warsaw also sees the Russian attack on Ukraine as justifying its long-held suspicion of its historical foe, and it hasn’t been shy in pointing the finger at Paris and Berlin for being wrong about the threat posed by the Kremlin.
“Old Europe believed in an agreement with Russia, and old Europe failed,” Morawiecki said in a joint news conference with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. “But there is a new Europe — Europe that remembers what Russian communism was. And Poland is the leader of this new Europe.”
That’s why Macron’s comments have been seized on by Warsaw.
According to Poland’s PM Mateusz Morawiecki, Emmanuel Macron’s talks of distancing the EU from America “threatens to break up” the block | Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
“I absolutely don’t agree with President Macron. We believe that more America is needed in Europe … We want more cooperation with the U.S. on a partnership basis,” Marcin Przydacz, a foreign policy adviser to Polish President Andrzej Duda, told Poland’s Radio Zet, adding that the strategic autonomy idea pushed by Macron “has the goal of cutting links between Europe and the United States.”
While Poland is keen on European countries hitting NATO’s goal of spending at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense — a target that only seven alliance members, including Poland, but not France and Germany, are meeting — and has no problem with them building up military industries, it doesn’t want to weaken ties with the U.S., said Sławomir Dębski, head of the state-financed Polish Institute of International Affairs.
He warned that Macron’s talks of distancing Europe from America in the event of a conflict with China “threatens to break up the EU, which is against the interests not only of Poland, but also of most European countries.”

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 11, 2023
Hyderabad: 200 buildings to be razed in Bandlaguda Crystal Township

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Hyderabad: As many as 200 buildings in Crystal Township on the outskirts of Hyderabad will be demolished and steps will be taken initially to complete the demolition of the under-construction buildings in this venture.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), while initiating the demolition drive at Crystal Township located in Bandlaguda, said that this 44-acre stretcher is not approved and there are orders of the Telangana High Court regarding this venture and the residents of the area have been continuously issued notices by the municipality.
The civic officials will launch a massive operation in Crystal Township Bandlaguda with the help of several bulldozers under heavy police supervision and said that 200 buildings in this township have been identified and issued notices and no response has been received from them so far. Hence, it has been decided to carry out demolition operations in a big way.

Those who bought the property in Crystal Township and built their houses say that if it is illegal and unapproved, then why did the government departments remain silent at the time of sale, and how these properties were registered? When asked by the residents, civic officials said they were ensuring the implementation of the court’s orders.
Despite heavy police deployment in the township for the demolition, the residents of Crystal Township protested and raised slogans against the GHMC action. The victims expressed their displeasure over the venture sold by Pride India. The company’s officials, saying that in connection with the unapproved layout, the applications had been filed under the LRS to regularize the lands in this venture, but now that 200 buildings have been identified by the civic officials.
Those protesting against the demolition were detained by the police and officials have warned that if anyone tries to disrupt the demolition of the municipality, cases will be registered against them on charges of interfering in government work.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 3, 2023
Over half of buildings in Delhi built in unplanned manner: LG Saxena

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New Delhi: More than half of the buildings in Delhi have been built in an unplanned manner exposing the city to the threat of disasters like earthquake, Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena said Tuesday.
Speaking at the launch of the Aapda Mitra training programme by the IP University, he said the role these volunteers will play during a potential disaster is very important as they would be the first responders.
Their role is not confined to only disasters but they are expected to respond to incidents like road accidents, snatching, eve-teasing etc, the LG said.
“Fifty-sixty per cent of the buildings of Delhi have been constructed in an unplanned manner due to flux of urbanisation, as a result of it, we are running the risk of the big fire, earthquake-like disasters. Seeing these disaster perceptions, the role of Aapda Mitra volunteers is significant,” Saxena added.
The LG also inaugurated the newly built Atal Incubation Centre’ and auditorium-cum-placement centre & open air theatre’ of the Dwarka campus of the university.
Delhi Principal Secretary (Home) Ashwani Kumar said a total of 1,800 Aapda Mitras are being trained as a part of this drive.
As many as 600 volunteers are being trained by IP University and the rest 1,200 volunteers are being trained by Skill Corporation of India to meet any disaster needs of Delhi.
IP University will train 600 Aapda Mitra volunteers selected by Delhi Disaster Management Authority.

The university will conduct this training programme in a phased manner. At first, training programme for 100 such volunteers has been started today.
The duration of this basic intensive training programme is 12 days.
The training module for these volunteers has been prepared by the Centre of Excellence in Disaster Management (CEMS) of the University with close coordination with DDMA. The training for the next batch will start after the successful completion of a training programme for the previous batch.
The Aapda Mitra programme was launched by the National Disaster Management Authority in May 2016 with a focus on training community volunteers with the skills that they would need to respond to their community’s immediate needs in the aftermath of a disaster thereby enabling them to undertake basic relief and rescue tasks during emergency situations such as floods, cyclone, earthquake, fire, etc.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 28, 2023
Provocative Putin makes surprise trip to occupied Mariupol

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A provocative Vladimir Putin made a surprise weekend visit to Russian-occupied Mariupol, one of the symbols of Ukrainian resistance.
Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov, is located in Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast and this is the Russian president’s first trip in the region since the start of his war against Ukraine in February 2022.
Mariupol fell to Russia last May, after the Kremlin failed to seize Kyiv. The battle for Mariupol was one of the war’s longest and bloodiest, as Moscow’s troops carried out some of their most notorious strikes. The Russian assaults included an attack on a maternity ward, which the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said was a war crime, and the bombing of a theater that was clearly marked as housing children.

It is the closest to the front lines Putin has been since the yearlong war began. The move is likely to be seen as particularly provoking to Ukrainians. The trip to Mariupol came after Putin travelled to Crimea on Saturday in an unannounced visit to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine, the Kremlin said in a statement.
Putin’s visits come just after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader and top Russian official Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova over the forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia.
So far during Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Putin has largely remained inside the Kremlin, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made a number of trips to the battlefield to boost the morale of Kyiv’s troops.
Putin flew by helicopter to Mariupol, Russian new agencies reported, citing the Kremlin. Then he travelled around several parts of the city, driving a car and making stops to talk to residents.
The Kremlin said Putin also examined the coastline of Mariupol, visiting a yacht club and theater building. In the Nevsky district of Mariupol, Putin visited a family in their home. The new residential neighborhood has been built by Russian military with the first people moving in last September, according to media reports.
Residents have been “actively” returning, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, who accompanied Putin, was cited as saying by Russian agencies. “The downtown has been badly damaged,” Khusnullin was reported as saying. “We want to finish [reconstruction] of the center by the end of the year, at least the facade part. The center is very beautiful.”
There were no immediate reaction from Kyiv to the visit.
The Kremlin has not commented yet on the ICC arrest warrant. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said: “The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin. No need to explain WHERE this paper should be used … ” concluding with a toilet paper emoji.
Moscow has previously said it did not recognize the court’s authority.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

March 15, 2023
Seven killed as explosion levels 3 buildings in Iran

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Tehran: At least seven persons were killed and five others injured after three residential buildings collapsed on Sunday following an explosion in Iran’s Tabriz city, the media reported.
The explosion took place at around 3 a.m. (local time) in a two-story building, Xinhua news agency reported.
“The impact of the blast completely levelled the building and two nearby ones,” Mohammad-Baqer Honarbar, director general of East Azarbaijan province’s Crisis Management Organisation was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
He added that the explosion also caused damage to many nearby buildings, shattering windows.
The authorities were conducting an investigation into the cause of the explosion, Fars news agency reported, adding that two of the injured have been hospitalised.
One person was pulled out alive from rubble. The rescue operation was underway, IRNA reported.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 12, 2023
Post-quake reconstruction focuses on shorter buildings: Erdogan

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Istanbul: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that the reconstruction after the massive earthquakes would focus on rebuilding shorter buildings and development on more durable surfaces.
Speaking at the National Risk Shield Meeting in Istanbul on Friday, Erdogan laid out Turkey’s post-quake reconstruction plans.
“When planning new settlements, we will be moving our cities from lowland plains and toward mountains with the more durable surfaces,” he said.
“We will not compromise on horizontal development,” Erdogan added, noting the Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKI) will focus on constructing buildings of three or four storeys high, Xinhua news agency reported.
The President also emphasised the urgency in procuring permanent shelter for earthquake victims.
Multiple devastating earthquakes in early February left tens of thousands killed and many more homeless in the country’s southern region. According to the President, there are 214,000 buildings officially classified as “collapsed, on the verge of collapse, or severely damaged” during the quakes.
The meeting comes two days after the Istanbul municipality held its own Earthquake Mobilisation Plan, where it announced its plans to reinforce buildings in March against possible strong earthquakes in the future.
Turkish Urbanisation Minister Murat Kurum earlier said new residential buildings will be built in two designated areas on the Anatolian and European sides of Istanbul to replace risky ones in the city.

(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 4, 2023
Putin’s Russia summons Stalin from the grave as a wartime ally

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MOSCOW — As Russia enters the second year of its war against Ukraine, fans of Joseph Stalin are enjoying a renewed alignment with the Kremlin.
On Sunday, the hundreds of Stalinists who came to Red Square to mark the 70th anniversary of the Soviet dictator’s death were full of bravado and admiration for a man responsible for mass executions, a network of labor camps and forced starvation.
But that was not a side of the dictator that was at the forefront of the minds of those who showed up to commemorate him.

“Stalin stood up to Nazism,” Maxim, a 19-year-old medical student in a blue wooly hat, who like others interviewed for this article declined to give his last name, told POLITICO. “And now our current president has led the charge to take it on again.”
Irina, a 35-year-old marketer, brought a bouquet of red carnations to lay at Stalin’s grave at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. On February 24 last year when President Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine, a triumphant Irina posted a picture of a hammer and sickle on Instagram. “That symbol for me said it all.”
Standing in front of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin’s mausoleum on Red Square, longtime Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov told journalists Putin could learn “lessons” from Stalin: “It’s time to take action and start fighting in a real way.”
But as Stalin’s reputation undergoes this rehabilitation, those dedicated to documenting Soviet-era mass repression have felt the full force of the state apparatus used against them.
Across town from Red Square, in Moscow’s north-eastern Basmanny district, about two dozen people gathered outside a faded yellow four-storey building on Sunday. They came to install a plaque commemorating the site as the last home of Vladimir Maslov, an economist accused of spying for Poland in a fabricated case and shot at the height of Stalin’s Great Purge. One of the attendees wore an olive-green jacket adorned with a Dove of Peace — a risky political statement in Putin’s Russia.
The “Last Address” campaign, which attaches the plaques to the former homes of the victims of Soviet repression, is one of very few such projects remaining after a merciless purge of Russia’s most established human rights groups — Memorial, the Sakharov Center and the Moscow Helsinki Group have all been forced to close.
For now, their loosely organized volunteers, armed with drills and step stools to attach the plaques on façades, have been spared. But they face increasing hurdles: The required unanimous consent of a particular building’s residents has become harder to come by; plaques have even been taken down.
“People have become more careful, they are scared that acknowledging the dark episodes of the past will be taken as a nod to what’s going on today,” said volunteer Mikhail Sheinker. “In times like these, past and present converge until they almost blend together.”
The day Stalin’s death was announced — March 6, 1953 — is seared into Sheinker’s memory: “I was four at the time and was making the usual ruckus, but my mother told me to be quiet out of respect.”
Russian Communist party supporters march to lay flowers to the tomb of late Soviet leader Joseph Stalin | Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images
Today, in wartime Russia, the specter of Stalin could once again be used to further silence dissent.
On Sunday, state-run news agency RIA Novosti published an opinion piece headlined: “Stalin is a weapon in the battle between Russia and the West” arguing criticizing Stalin is “not just anti-Soviet but is also Russophobic, aimed at dividing and defeating Russia.”
But while World War II — which Russians refer to as “the Great Patriotic War” — continues to be a central trope of Putin’s rhetoric when it comes to his invasion of Ukraine, the president casts himself more as a successor to the czars than Soviet leaders. Accordingly, state media paid relatively little attention to the 70th anniversary of Stalin’s death.
Former Kremlin adviser Sergei Markov said that’s because Stalin is still too divisive and Russia’s ruling elite is loathe to commit to any specific ideology. But “if Russia is going to suffer further setbacks [in Ukraine], Stalin will become a main theme,” Markov wrote on Telegram.
Strange bedfellows
The alliance between Putin’s Kremlin and revanchist Communists is an uneasy one.
In Russia’s lower house, or the State Duma, the Communist Party closely toes the Kremlin line — but at a regional level, its members are at times less disciplined.
Last month, Mikhail Abdalkin, a Communist lawmaker in the region of Samara, posted a video of himself listening to Putin’s annual address to the entire ruling elite with noodles hanging from his ears. It was a nod to a Russian idiom “hang noodles on one’s ears” that refers to being taken for a ride or being fed nonsense.
A Russian Communist party supporter holds a portrait of late Soviet leader Joseph Stalin | Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images
Last week, Abdalkin said he had been charged with discrediting Russia’s armed forces, with the case to be heard on March 7. If he’s convicted, Abdalkin could be fined.
On Red Square on Sunday, some Communist supporters volunteered criticism of Putin, too — but not of his war on Ukraine.
“Stalin gets criticized for having blood on his hands. But what about Putin’s policies? Outside big cities, people need to travel hundreds of kilometers on muddy roads to get health care,” said Alexander, a pensioner in his 60s.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

March 2, 2023