Victims of Stalin repressions remembered

The ritual Orthodox Procession of the Cross is underway in the northern Russian republic of Karelia. The Journey of the Holy Cross commemorates the victims of the 1930's Stalin repressions.

The cedar cross is 12,5 meters tall and 8 meters wide and travels along the White Sea – Baltic Sea Canal – build by the hands of  prisoners in Soviet times. It will eventually arrive at a site of a mass execution.

In another event linked to commemorating the victims, various artists, singers and human rights activists have gathered at what used to be a concentration camp in the distant Perm region. The commemoration highlights the issues of human solidarity and civil liberty.