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What the Russian authorities think of Lavrentiy Beria, according to Vladimir Putin and the Supreme Court In one photo
Source: Meduza
Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a speech at the Future Technologies Forum on July 13 that “every age demands its own heroes.” Among such heroes he referred to Lavrentiy Beria, who headed the NKVD (a precursor to the KGB) from 1938-1945 and, as Putin noted, also led the Soviet atomic project. Putin has previously said Beria was a “famous nuclear physicist” (2018) and a “vetter who worked well” with anonymity (2016). In 2006, Putin accused Georgia of “succession to Beria’s policy” due to its detentions of Russian military personnel. Lavrentiy Beria was one of the organizers of mass repression and terror in the USSR. He was charged accordingly, and other crimes, after the death of Joseph Stalin. In accordance with the court’s verdict, Beria was shot (though there are other versions). The Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in 2000 refused to rehabilitate Lavrentiy Beria. The court stated that Beria and his closest associates were “organizers of terror” who “innocently affected thousands of citizens, many of whom died.” In 2014, the Supreme Court repeated this in another decision when it refused to rehabilitate three of Beria’s associates.
Cover photo: Fine Art Images / Heritage Images / Getty Images