If you read the article, Putin did not say that Stalin deserves statues in his honor; in fact, he deliberately refused to take a position on the matter before the Moscow City Council. Saying that Stalin deserved statues as much as Cromwell implies that neither deserves statues, since Putin obviously views Cromwell in a negative light.
By the way, if Putin is enamored with Stalin, why did he bestow Russia’s highest award, “The State Prize,” on Solzhenitsyn, and why has he made “Gulag” required reading in Russian high schools. Why did Solzhenitsyn, arch foe of Stalinism, praise Putin’s governance?
As to the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe” quotation,
here is what Putin actually said:
“We should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century. As for the Russian nation, it became a genuine drama. Tens of millions of our co-citizens and co-patriots found themselves outside Russian territory. Moreover, the epidemic of disintegration infected Russia itself.”
Putin has said many times that he was referring to the fact that 25 million Russians woke up in a different country after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He was not mourning the end of communism.
In fact, Putin has said otherwise. “In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute, Putin said during a speech at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated. Âhttp://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/02/putin_warns_us_to_eschew_socia.html
He basically said that Cromwell had some negative issues as did Stalin, but he was still worthy of being honored with statues. In other words, Stalin, all things considered, should have statues in his honor, in your boy Putin's opinion.
"Asked which Soviet leader he would most like to reconstruct in the form of a statue, Vladimir Putin made an unexpected comparison between Oliver Cromwell and Joseph Stalin.
"There is no difference. Cromwell is just as much of a bloody dictator as was Stalin."
He pointed out that there is a monument to Cromwell in London (outside the House of Commons) and no one seeks to knock it down.