Vladimir Putin... " The man reads slowly, shining the note with a flashlight. The participants in the "Returning the Names" campaign in Lukish Square in Vilnius are cautiously silent. "... Grigorievich," the man concludes, "is convicted according to the article "Kulak". The line to the microphone blows calmly. Most of the names heard today as part of the commemoration in Vilnius were Lithuanian: here it was dedicated to the victims of Soviet oppression connected to Lithuania - Lithuanians by nationality, or those born on the territory of Lithuania. The names could be read in Russian or Lithuanian - some of the participants in the action took advantage of this opportunity, including Deputy Seimas Emmanuelis Zingaris, who cooperates with the "Committee against the War". After he finished reading, Zingaris thanked a Russian souvenir for organizing the action, that "we must fight" so that the past does not repeat itself. Russian-speaking participants in the action, as usual, added to the notes the names of their repressed relatives or modern Russian political prisoners. The reading lasted an hour and a half. In the end, the organizers stated that every year they are forced to return more and more to the origins of the action: not only to remember the victims of Stalin's terror, but also to perceive this day as a day of struggle for the rights of political prisoners, because the attitude to the past can also affect the future, "which we very much hope for". Photo: Ruslan Trehov / SOTA.

Vladimir Putin... " The man reads slowly, shining the note with a flashlight. The participants in the "Returning the Names" campaign in Lukish Square in Vilnius are cautiously silent. "... Grigorievich," the man concludes, "is convicted according to the article "Kulak". The line to the microphone blows calmly. Most of the names heard today as part of the commemoration in Vilnius were Lithuanian: here it was dedicated to the victims of Soviet oppression connected to Lithuania - Lithuanians by nationality, or those born on the territory of Lithuania. The names could be read in Russian or Lithuanian - some of the participants in the action took advantage of this opportunity, including Deputy Seimas Emmanuelis Zingaris, who cooperates with the "Committee against the War". After he finished reading, Zingaris thanked a Russian souvenir for organizing the action, that "we must fight" so that the past does not repeat itself. Russian-speaking participants in the action, as usual, added to the notes the names of their repressed relatives or modern Russian political prisoners. The reading lasted an hour and a half. In the end, the organizers stated that every year they are forced to return more and more to the origins of the action: not only to remember the victims of Stalin's terror, but also to perceive this day as a day of struggle for the rights of political prisoners, because the attitude to the past can also affect the future, "which we very much hope for". Photo: Ruslan Trehov / SOTA.