Ali Reynolds

Period 1
Psychological Torture
When one thinks of cruel Russian leaders, Joseph Stalin is usually the first that comes to
mind. He was the dictator of the Soviet Union for 30 years and murdered millions of people.
Most people would like to think that Russia has improved since then, but in some ways the
Russian regime is worse today than it was under Stalin. Putin is no mass murderer, but many of
his maneuvers are aimed at psychologically tormenting his enemies and their families. Stalins
focus was physical violence to scare his people and his foes into submission; Putin is more
focused on using psychological violence to lash out against his enemies and their families as a
tool to incite fear. Though in many ways life in Russia is better than it was during the Soviet era,
some of Vladimir Putins policies and actions are more barbaric than those of Stalin.
Since his election, Putin has been improving Russians view of Stalin as he becomes
increasingly similar to Stalin. Putin promotes Stalin as a tough leader who led the Soviets to
victory in World War II and presided over the countrys industrialism (Akbar). A new poll shows
that public opinion of Stalin boosted since Putins election (Akbar). Putin has been taking a
nationalistic tone in his foreign policy, using this new nostalgia about Stalins Russia to
encourage patriotism (Putzier). A new Soviet Union is being created through invasions of other
countries and the construction of a Eurasian economic union (Putzier). Putin is also starting to
see Europe as a threat and his invasion of Ukraine was startlingly similar to Stalins invasion of
Poland at the beginning of World War II (Putzier). Putin is using improvement in public opinion
surrounding Stalin and Soviet Russia to increases support of his policies, some of which are
more brutal than Stalins.
Putins barbarity was shown through his response to the Magnitsky Act. The Magnitsky
Act placed visa restrictions on certain Russian officials who had committed humanitarian crimes

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Period 1
(Browder 327). In response, Putin passed the Dima Yakovlev law, which banned the adoption of
Russian children by American families (Burke). Even worse, the majority American adoptions of
Russian children were of those sick with diseases such as AIDS and sickle cell anemia who need
treatment in the U.S. in order to survive (358). In this response, Putin was punishing and possibly
killing defenseless orphans of his own country who had nothing to do with the Magnitsky Act.
Stalin orphaned many children throughout his regime, but he never outright denied them
treatment to take revenge on another country as Putin is doing.
Putin also doesnt just stop at illegally murdering people; he also has begun putting those
he has killed on trial. Sergei Magnitsky, the namesake of the aforementioned Magnitsky Act, was
killed by Russian police in 2009 after being held in prisons for almost a year for refusing to plead
guilty to a crime he didnt commit or incriminate his client (Browder 278). Three years later
Stalin put him on trial posthumously for tax evasion. This was uncharted territory for Russian
law. A dead person hadnt been put on trial anywhere in the world since the 9th century (Browder
364). Putins goal in having this trial was to defile the memory of Magnitsky in order to lessen
the authenticity of the Magnitsky Act. He wasnt just murdering people, but psychologically
debasing them and their family, taking his human rights crimes to a whole new level (Seddon).
Even Stalin, who was responsibly for the deaths of at least 20 million Russians, never put a dead
man on trial
The Russian political system has improved in many ways since Stalins dictatorship. The
Communist party no longer controls the country and the government is less centralized. Vladimir
Putin hasnt murdered 20 million Russian citizens and isnt conspiring with a genocidal dictator
as Stalin was. Nevertheless, some of Putins policies are more barbaric and cruel than Stalins.
He is using sick orphans as tools for revenge and psychological torture to degrade his victims

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Period 1
and their families. While Stalin focused on physical violence to incite fear, Putin is getting the
same effects using psychological torment. His policies need to be checked, or else the world may
have another savage dictator to deal with.

Ali Reynolds
Period 1
Works Cited
Akbar, Jay. "The rehabilitation of Stalin: Putin rewrites history to convince almost half of all
Russians that megalomaniac dictator was just a man with 'good intentions.'" Daily Mail.
Associated Newspapers, 5 May 2015. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.
Browder, Bill. Red Notice. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015. Print.
Burke, Ingrid. "Duma retaliates against US with adoption ban, NGO restrictions, blacklist."
Russian Legal Information Agency., 21 Dec. 2012. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.
Putzier, Konrad. "Putin and Stalin: Mirror Reflections." World Policy Institute., 23 Dec. 2014.
Web. 16 Dec. 2015.
Seddon, Max. "'A dangerous precedent': Russia to put dead man on trial." NBC News., 28 Jan.
2013. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.