Since 2020 organizers of “Returning the Names” have been repeatedly denied authorization. In Moscow, the main public readings are effectively banned, formally due to lingering COVID-era restrictions. In 2022 Russia’s Supreme Court liquidated the International Memorial, and pressure on the memory movement intensified. With mass gatherings impossible, activists seek legal ways to keep the ritual alive. “Returning the Names” is an annual commemoration in which participants read aloud the names of people executed during the Great Terror. Since 2007, thousands have joined across Russia and abroad on the eve of the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repression. Traditionally Muscovites gathered at the Solovetsky Stone on Lubyanka Square, opposite the security services’ headquarters. Now the readings scatter across the city, during historical walks or in forests at mass graves. With no publicity, amid fear and the risk of prosecution, dozens take part, and their number keeps growing.
