Russian region bars Communist Party from using Lenin in campaign materials because he’s dead

The Communist Party (KPRF) of Russia has recently printed 20,000 campaign newspapers in the Tyumen region after officials raised concerns over a photograph of Vladimir Lenin. The controversy stemmed from a section reporting on a Lenin monument erected in Tobolsk in 2024, funded by KPRF. According to the Russian business newspaper Kommersant, this is the first instance where the ban on depicting images of deceased individuals in campaign materials has been enforced, which came into effect in May 2026.

Upon receiving notification from Nikolai Shadrin, a member of the regional election commission, the KPRF decided to reprint the newspaper without the disputed photograph. Nevertheless, the Tyumen regional election commission stated that they had not officially received any KPRF materials featuring an image of the Lenin monument but confirmed that publishing such materials would have violated the new law's requirements.

The commission emphasized that any depiction of deceased individuals, whether in the form of a monument or a painting, is legally prohibited on campaign materials.

As Russia prepares for elections on September 20, 2026, including State Duma and regional parliamentary elections, United Russia holds the first position on the State Duma ballot, as well as in 21 of the 39 regions for regional parliamentary elections—a statistical oddity under random drawing. The Yabloko party was initially slated for the second slot on the State Duma ballot but was removed by the Supreme Court.

Meduza, the news outlet reporting this story, maintains transparency regarding its use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom, with this article written by a human journalist and translated from Russian using an AI model adhering to strict editorial standards.