The Vologda Regional Arbitration Court has ruled that the Joseph Stalin monument erected six months ago at the "Vologda Exile" house-museum must be returned to its creator, entrepreneur Ekaterina Lozhenitsyna, according to a report by "Beware of the News."
Additionally, the court mandated the businesswoman to reimburse 10.5 million rubles to the regional budget, the amount spent on the monument's installation.
Lozhenitsyna informed "Beware of the News" that she intends to appeal the decision, and the statue will remain in place for now.
Authorities previously alleged that the contract for the monument's installation violated legal procedures. Prosecutors claim the 10.5-million-ruble cost was inflated and that the museum improperly awarded the contract without a competitive bidding process.
Vologda Governor Georgy Filimonov, who spearheaded the monument's unveiling in December 2024, reaffirmed that the structure will not be removed:
"We are solely addressing legal technicalities in the documentation, not the monument's future. <...> The object itself is not up for debate. It will stay. I want to reassure the speculators," the official stated.