MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Shawarma store in Moscow was forced to close a day after it opened after a scream over Joseph Stalin’s defiant brand, the store owner told Reuters on Saturday.
The Stalin Doner store contains a portrait of the controversial communist leader above his front door. Inside, a man dressed in Stalin-era security service customers served meatballs named after Soviet leaders.
“We opened completely the day before yesterday and served about 200 customers,” said store owner Stanislav Voltman.
“There were no legal reasons (to close the store),” he added, but said police had forced him to remove the Stalin sign and that a “colossal pressure” from local authorities had forced him to leave completely. to close.
The social brands have been hotly debated on social media, and some commentators have condemned them as distasteful.
Stalin’s rule was marked by mass oppression, labor camps, and famine. According to conservative official estimates, nearly 700,000 people were executed during the Great Terror of 1936-38.
However, many in the former Soviet Union still regard him primarily as the leader who defeated Nazi Germany in World War II, ensuring the existence of the country.
“I was expecting a hype from social media,” Voltman said. “But I did not expect all TV stations, all the reporters and bloggers to stream here and stand in line like in front of the Lenin Mausoleum.”
(Reporting by Dmitriy Turlyun; Written by Olzhas Auyezov; Edited by Ros Russell)