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66-555: Povenets is located 19 kilometers (12 mi) from Sandarmokh , the site of mass execution by shooting and burial of victims of the Soviet political repressions . Urban-type settlement status was granted to Povenets in 1938. Povenets marked the furthest advance by Finnish troops during the World War II Continuation war 1941-44. The town was occupied by Finnish troops on 6 December 1941. Soviet forces retook

132-454: A "committed nationalist of the imperial variety", as someone "who thinks nothing of using the familiar words of a faith to their most egregious effect". Journalists of the newspapers Kommersant and Moskovskij Komsomolets accused Kirill of profiteering and abuse of the privilege of duty-free importation of cigarettes granted to the church in the mid-1990s and dubbed him "Tobacco Metropolitan". The Department for External Church Relations

198-495: A Breguet, among other gifts, but he had never worn it. Concerning a photo which appeared to show him wearing the Breguet at a liturgy, Kirill stated "I was looking at that picture and suddenly I understood - it was a collage! But after that photograph was posted I began examining. As many people come and make presents. And often there are boxes that were never opened and you don't know what is there. And I found out that in fact there

264-684: A KGB agent, under the name Mikhaïlov . In cultural and social affairs, the Church under Kirill has collaborated closely with the Russian state under President Vladimir Putin. Patriarch Kirill has backed the expansion of Russian power into Crimea and eastern Ukraine. Despite calling for the "speedy restoration of peace", Patriarch Kirill also referred to Moscow's opponents in Ukraine as "evil forces", stating "we must not allow dark and hostile external forces to laugh at us." He has been described as

330-643: A meeting with First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Fidel Castro . Castro commended Metropolitan Kirill as his ally in combating "American imperialism ". Kirill awarded Fidel and Raúl Castro the Order of St. Daniel of Moscow on behalf of Patriarch Alexy II in recognition of their decision to build the first Russian Orthodox Church in Havana , to serve the Russian expatriates living there. He

396-644: A non-democratic election. According to the Financial Times , "Keenly aware that Putin's actions severely undermined his authority in Ukraine, Kirill refused to absorb Crimea 's parishes and boycotted a ceremony in the Kremlin to celebrate Russia's annexation." During the Orthodox Church of Ukraine autocephaly controversy , Patriarch Kirill was the presiding chairman of the Holy Synod of

462-782: A special prayer ceremony in honor of Putin's re-election twice, on 7 May 2012 and in May 2018. Three female members of the feminist group Pussy Riot were arrested in March 2012 for performing a song in Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow during which they called on the Virgin Mary to "chase Putin out". The women were arrested for hooliganism and were later sentenced to two years' imprisonment. The song contained profanities and

528-532: A teacher of German, died in 1984. His elder brother, Archpriest Nikolay Gundyaev, is a professor at Leningrad Theological Academy and rector of the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in St. Petersburg. His grandfather, Rev. Vasily Gundyaev, a Solovki prisoner , was imprisoned and exiled in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s for his church activity and struggle against Renovationism . After finishing

594-576: A threat to family values during a visit to Kyrgyzstan . In February 2016 Pope Francis and he held the first-ever meeting between the leaders of the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. During Kirill's visit to Bulgaria in 2018 in honor of the 140th anniversary of Bulgaria's liberation from the Ottoman empire , Bulgaria's president Rumen Radev said he thanks all ethnicities that were struggling for Bulgaria's independence from

660-462: Is Breguet watch, so I've never given commentaries that the Patriarch doesn't have it. There is a box with Breguet, but I've never worn it." This triggered at least one Internet blogger to study the issue and collect images of Kirill's wristwear. Some time later, photographs on his official website showed him wearing what appeared to be an expensive watch on his left wrist, and later one even showed

726-855: Is a Russian Orthodox bishop . He became Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' and Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church on 1 February 2009. Prior to becoming Patriarch, Kirill was Archbishop (later Metropolitan ) of Smolensk and Kaliningrad , and also Chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church's Department for External Church Relations . He has been a permanent member of the Holy Synod since 1989. A close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin , Kirill has described Putin's rule as "a miracle of God". According to Putin, Kirill's father baptized him. During his tenure as Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus', Kirill has brought

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792-625: Is a forest massif 12 km (7.5 mi) from Medvezhyegorsk in the Republic of Karelia where an unknown number, estimated in the thousands, of victims of Stalin's Great Terror were executed. More than 58 nationalities were shot and buried there by the NKVD in 236 communal pits over a 14-month period in 1937 and 1938. 1000 victims were from the Solovki special prison in the White Sea . It

858-612: Is a memorial to the crimes of Stalin and his regime and since 1998 has been the focus of an international Day of Remembrance on 5 August every year. On 27 October 1937, 1,116 prisoners were loaded onto three barges and taken from Solovki to the mainland. Only in 1996, thanks to the efforts of Veniamin Ioffe  [ ru ] (1938–2002), co-chairman of the Memorial research centre in St Petersburg, documents were found in

924-455: Is more likely is that profits from the importation of tobacco and cigarettes have been used for urgent, pressing Church expenses." The duty-free importation of cigarettes ended in 1997. In his 2002 interview with Izvestia , Metropolitan Kirill called the allegations about his profiteering a political campaign against him. Alexander Pochinok , who was the minister of taxes and levies (1999–2000), said in 2009 that Kirill had no involvement in

990-642: The Butovo killing field near Moscow. Today, thanks to the Memorial Society , to Veniamin Ioffe and Yury Dmitriev, over 5,000 of the dead of Sandarmokh can again be named and remembered individually, at the place where they lie buried. Ukraine declared 2012 as "Sandarmokh List Year" in reference to several hundred Ukrainian language writers and poets from the Executed Renaissance who were arrested, shot, and buried at Sandarmokh after

1056-717: The Catholic Church . However, in a 2009 statement, Kirill stated that there could be no doctrinal compromise with the Catholic Church, and that discussions with them did not have the goal of seeking unification. On 12 February 2016, Kirill and Pope Francis , the head of the Roman Catholic Church, met at José Martí International Airport near Havana, Cuba, and signed a thirty point joint declaration , prepared in advance, addressing global issues including their hope for re–establishment of full unity,

1122-770: The Finnish diaspora who emigrated to the USSR during the Great Depression and who were later arrested and shot at Sandarmokh as a part of the Finnish Operation of the NKVD , are listed by John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr in their study In Denial: Historians, Communism, and Espionage (2003). They included 141 Finnish Americans , and 127 Finnish Canadians . It is often said or assumed of Soviet mass executions that they were carried out by firing squad . For

1188-716: The Great Turn , when new Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin decided, as a preliminary to the Holodomor , to reverse the Post-1917 policies of Korenizatsiya and Ukrainianization . These otherwise Pro- Soviet writers refused to submit to Stalin's return to the House of Romanov 's policy of the coercive Russification of Ukraine and were shot, according to the Ukrainian Government, because they inspired

1254-694: The Belbaltlag ( White Sea–Baltic Canal ) camp system. A smaller group of 1,111 prisoners were brought there from Solovki prison camp . Together they made up almost half of those shot during the Great Terror in Karelia. "Alongside hard-working peasants, fishermen and hunters from nearby villages", wrote Yury Dmitriev, "there were writers and poets, scientists and scholars, military leaders, doctors, teachers, engineers, clergy of all confessions and statesmen who found their final resting place here." Among

1320-479: The DECR, forming new synodal institutions, which were entrusted with certain areas of activity previously dealt with by the DECR. The Department for Church-Society Relations  [ ru ] , independent from the DECR, was created; this department was responsible for "the implementation of relations with legislative bodies, political parties, professional and creative unions, and other civil society institutions in

1386-582: The Memorial Education and Information Centre in St Petersburg. In 2015 Dmitriev recounted how he, Flige and the late Veniamin Ioffe had found the burial site. According to documents found in the FSB archives in Arkhangelsk , there were people of 58 nationalities among those shot at Sandarmokh. Three hundred personal plaques and memorials have been erected around the site since 1997 to commemorate

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1452-666: The Moscow church. Kirill is a long-time ally of president Vladimir Putin . When Kirill was elected Patriarch on 27 January 2009, by the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church by secret vote he gained 508 out of 702 votes and was enthroned during a liturgy at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour , Moscow on 1 February 2009. The service was attended, among others, by the President of Russia , Dmitry Medvedev and by

1518-472: The ROC Local Council (the 2009 Pomestny Sobor) elected Kirill I of Moscow as Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus; with 508 votes out of 700.) He was enthroned on 1 February 2009. The conservative wing in the Russian Orthodox Church criticized Kirill for practicing ecumenism throughout the 1990s. In 2008, breakaway Bishop Diomid of Anadyr and Chukotka criticized him for associating himself with

1584-410: The Russian Orthodox Church closer to the Russian state. Kirill's relationship with Bartholomew I of Constantinople , Ecumenical Patriarch and the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide, has been tense. Kirill has lauded the Russian invasion of Ukraine , justifying the war as a struggle against "forces of evil". The World Russian People's Council under his leadership described

1650-750: The Russian Orthodox Church when the decision was made to break Eucharistic communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate on 15 October 2018. In 2019, he created a working committee with the Malankara Orthodox Church . After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 , Kirill praised the invasion. Kirill blamed the conflict on "gay parades" and made baseless claims that Ukraine was "exterminating" Russians in Donbass, Kirill's remarks prompted clergy in some other Orthodox dioceses to condemn Kirill's remarks and seek independence from

1716-535: The Soviet regime and, later, the Third Reich , this method of execution was the exception, not the rule. From early days onwards, the preferred Soviet method of quick despatch was to dig a trench and then, the executioner standing immediately behind the upright or kneeling victim, shoot the victims at point blank range in the back of the head. This was the infamous "nine grammes of lead". The victims tumbled into

1782-557: The State-run Rossiya TV channel announced briefly on 22 April 2018 that there would be new investigations at Sandarmokh "this summer". Agence France-Presse covered later developments in September 2018, citing critics who state that the digs have a political motivation to manipulate public opinion and an attempt to cover up Stalinist crimes. The European External Action Service 's EUvsDisinfo.eu website has classified

1848-590: The World Council of Churches and has been actively involved in the ecumenical activity of the Russian Orthodox Church since then. Since 1994, Kirill has hosted a weekly Orthodox television program "Слово пастыря" (The Word of the Shepherd) on ORT/Channel One . The Supreme Authority of the Church charged Kirill with the following functions: On 20 October 2008, while on a tour of Latin America, he had

1914-602: The archives of the Arkhangelsk department of the Federal Security Service (FSB) throwing light on the subsequent fate of the "first Solovki transport". These included the lists of those men and women who were to be shot. (One died before he could be executed; four more were sent to other parts of the Gulag .) After years of work on the ground in Karelia by Yuri Dmitriev , this documentary evidence pointed

1980-520: The canonical territory of the Moscow Patriarchate." Dioceses, representative offices  [ ru ] , metochions , monasteries and stavropegic parishes far abroad, which were previously under the authority of the DECR, were directly subordinated to the Patriarch of Moscow of All Russia; to manage them, the Moscow Patriarchate's Secretariat for Institutions Abroad was created. The Synodal Information Department  [ ru ]

2046-417: The church to support the cultural position of Putin's government. Polls by Levada Center showed that a majority of Russians thought the punishment of the punk group was excessive, although only six percent of Russians were sympathetic to the group. Pope Benedict XVI , who was pontiff of the Catholic Church at the time, supported the position of the Russian Orthodox Church on this issue. In March 2012,

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2112-528: The claims that Finns are responsible for the Sandarmokh killings as "pro-Kremlin disinformation". The head of the local museum, Serge Koltyrin, was arrested in October 2018, shortly after he publicly criticized the new excavations. He was convicted in a closed trial of pedophilia and sentenced to 9 years in prison. In early March 2020, a local court decided to release him due to a terminal illness, however,

2178-403: The claims that the dust was harmful, saying that it was just sand and it would have been far more efficient to just hire a maid to vacuum it up. The Patriarch himself then said he thought it to be inappropriate to forgive Shevchenko. In 2012, Kirill was accused of wearing a Swiss Breguet watch worth over £ 20,000 (US$ 30,000). In an interview with Vladimir Solovyov , Kirill said that he owned

2244-476: The conflict as a " Holy War ". Clergy in other Orthodox Churches have condemned his remarks, with Bartholomew I saying that Kirill's support for Putin and the war were "damaging to the prestige of the whole of Orthodoxy". Kirill was born Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyayev in Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg ) on 20 November 1946. His father, Rev. Mikhail Gundyaev, died in 1974. His mother, Raisa Gundyaeva,

2310-460: The district administration where the killing fields were found. She also interviewed Sergei Verigin, one of the Russian historians putting forward the new hypothesis. Russian newspapers and television had talked of "thousands" of POWs being shot by the Finns and buried at Sandarmokh: speaking on the record to Yarovaya, Verigin was more cautious and spoke of dozens and hundreds. The Karelian edition of

2376-438: The economic and social chaos of the 1990s with the 2000s and said "What were the 2000s then? Through a miracle of God, with the active participation of the country's leadership, we managed to exit this horrible, systemic crisis", and likened anti-government protesters' "demands" to "ear-piercing shrieks" and said the protesters represented a minority of Russians." Since 1970, the federal police of Switzerland had classified him as

2442-694: The eighth grade (year 9), Vladimir Gundyayev obtained a job in the Leningrad Geological Expedition and worked for it from 1962 to 1965 as cartographer, combining work with studies at secondary school. After graduation from school, he entered the Leningrad Seminary and later the Leningrad Theological Academy , from which he graduated cum laude in 1970. On 3 April 1969, Metropolitan Nicodemus (Rotov) of Leningrad and Novgorod tonsured him with

2508-508: The former Russian Health Minister (1999–2004) Yury Shevchenko, pursuant to a court ruling, paid about 20 million rubles ($ 676,000) in compensation for the dust resultant from the renovation work that had settled in a flat upstairs in the prestigious House on the Embankment privately owned by Patriarch Kirill and occupied by the Patriarch's long-time friend businesswoman Lidia Leonova. "I sold my apartment in St. Petersburg, and we paid

2574-526: The hope of Jesus Christ's descending to Syria. Kirill also said that Russia's actions in Syria are just. In 2016, Kirill stated that silencing priests that speak against same-sex marriage is similar to censorship, such as those that existed under Soviet totalitarianism . In May 2017, he again likened silencing such priests to totalitarianism seen in Nazi Germany , and referred to same-sex marriage as

2640-510: The last named group were prominent members of the intelligentsia from the many national and ethnic cultures of the USSR ;– for example, Finns, Karelians, and Volga Germans. Ukraine was especially singled out, losing 289 of its writers, dramatists and other public figures, the " Executed Renaissance ", in a single day. The following 25 individuals illustrate this variety. They are listed by surname in alphabetical order: Members of

2706-516: The late 1930s, as the skulls found at these sites amply testify. Cross-examined while under arrest in 1939, the chief executioner Mikhail Matveyev said he made the victims lie face down in the prepared trench and then shot them. Thanks to the efforts of Ivan Chukhin, founder of Memorial in Karelia, a national deputy to the Supreme Soviet (and the Duma) and Yury Dmitriev's mentor, the names of

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2772-404: The many victims of this killing field, both individually and as representatives of particular nations and cultures, and an international Day of Remembrance has been held there every 5 August since 1998. In 2010, Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church led the mass for the slain victims of Stalin at Sandarmokh, just as he and his predecessor Alexy II have done, every year since 2007, at

2838-471: The members of the troika which rubber-stamped decisions to shoot a list of individuals – the accused were not present at these sessions, no one defended their rights – and of the execution squad leaders became known by the mid-1990s. The man sent from Leningrad on 16 October 1937 to organise the shooting of the Solovki transport, Matveyev, was an experienced NKVD executioner. He

2904-418: The most dubious achievements in show business") for "immaculate disappearance of a watch" in the category "Miracles up to the elbows". The award found a pained reaction from representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church. In 2015, Kirill's envoy delivered his letter to Russian servicemen at Russia's Khmeimim Air Base in Syria. The letter claimed that Russians troops in Syria are to deliver love and peace with

2970-592: The name of Kirill after saint Cyril the Philosopher and on 7 April ordained him as hierodeacon and on 1 June as hieromonk . From 1970 to 1971, Father Kirill taught Dogmatic Theology and acted as rector's assistant for students' affairs at the Leningrad Theological Schools and at the same time worked as personal secretary to Metropolitan Nicodem and supervising instructor of the first-grade seminarians . On 12 September 1971, Kirill

3036-517: The people of Ukraine with their own national culture , filling them "with pride and strength". The thousands executed over 14 months from October 1937 to December 1938 fall into three broad groups. Many were from Karelia, a total of 2,344 free inhabitants of the republic. A smaller number (624) were forced "settlers" (i.e. peasants exiled to the North after the collectivisation of agriculture ). A great many of those shot (1,988) were already prisoners of

3102-726: The persecution of Christians in the Middle East , the Syrian Civil War and church organisation in Ukraine . This was the first meeting between a pope and a Russian Orthodox patriarch. On 3 September 2019, Kirill and Paulose II , the head of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, met at the Patriarchal and Synod residence in St. Daniel Monastery , Moscow. During this meeting, Kirill supported

3168-405: The proposals made by Paulose II for cooperation in academics pertaining to iconography, church choristers, monasticism, pilgrimages, summer institutes and academic conferences. Patriarch Kirill introduced significant changes in the administrative structure of the Church. On 31 March 2009, the Holy Synod , at its first meeting under the chairmanship of the newly elected Patriarch Kirill , reformed

3234-458: The prosecutor challenged this decision and Koltyrin died in a prison hospital on 2 April 2020. 62°51′49″N 34°43′12″E  /  62.86361°N 34.72000°E  / 62.86361; 34.72000 Patriarch Kirill of Moscow Kirill or Cyril ( Russian : Кирилл , Church Slavonic : Ст҃ѣ́йшїй патрїа́рхъ Кѷрі́ллъ , secular name Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyayev , Russian: Владимир Михайлович Гундяев ; born 20 November 1946)

3300-469: The request of the Patriarch, the diocesan reform began, in which 2–3 dioceses were created on the territory of one region instead of one with the formation of a metropolis (Russian: митрополия , mitropoliya), administrative structure bringing together neighboring eparchies. Kirill "heartily congratulated" Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko for winning the Belarusian presidency in 2010 in

3366-460: The required sum", said Shevchenko's son, also named Yury, in early April 2012. According to the lawsuit, renovation works in Shevchenko's apartment stirred up a lot of dust, which settled on a collection of valuable books owned by Kirill. The Patriarch confirmed his ownership of the dusty apartment in a private conversation with journalist Vladimir Solovyov . Most of the reports in the media tended to be critical of Patriarch Kirill and laughing at

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3432-458: The then prime minister Vladimir Putin. The following day, Medvedev hosted a reception (a formal banquet ) for the ROC bishops in the Grand Kremlin Palace , where Patriarch Kirill spoke of the Byzantine concept of symphonia as his vision of the ideal of church-state relations, though acknowledging that it was not possible to fully attain it in Russia today. On 8 February 2012, at a meeting of religious leaders in Moscow, Kirill contrasted

3498-423: The town in July 1944. Within the framework of administrative divisions , the urban-type settlement of Povenets is subordinated to Medvezhyegorsky District . As a municipal division , Povenets, together with seventeen rural localities , is incorporated within Medvezhyegorsky Municipal District as Povenetskoye Urban Settlement . Sandarmokh Sandarmokh ( Сандармох ; Karelian : Sandarmoh )

3564-417: The trench and were buried; sometimes another, control shot (контрольный выстрел, kontrolnyi vystrel) was fired into the victim's head to make sure he or she was dead, sometimes only one shot was used. (A rare, extended description by a former executioner of how such mass killings were organised can be found in Lev Razgon 's 1988 memoirs.) This was the method used at Sandarmokh, Krasny Bor and Svirlag in

3630-440: The violations. In 2007 Kirill stated his goal of establishing a global Eastern Orthodox movement in Greece , Cyprus , Ukraine , Belarus , various Balkan states, Georgia , Armenia , and Moldova . In February 2012 Patriarch Kirill said that Putin's rule is a miracle. He openly supported Putin's presidential bid in 2012 and said that Putin corrected the historically wrong path of Russia after coming to power, and conducted

3696-412: The watch airbrushed out, but with a reflection of it still visible on the table's glossy surface. Later, it was stated by the Russian Church officials that it was a 24-year-old employee who "acted out of stupid, unjustifiable and unauthorized initiative" in editing the photo. It was also stated that "the guilty ones [for the image manipulation] will be punished severely". A spokesperson added that it

3762-430: The way to the identification on 1 July 1997 of the Solovki prisoners' last resting place and that of another 5,000 executed individuals. By the suggestion of Ioffe, the location would subsequently be given the local (Karelian) name "Sandarmokh" (sometimes spelled "Sandormokh"), by the name of an abandoned khutor shown in old maps of the area. The story of that search and discovery was told in 2017 by Irina Flige, head of

3828-441: Was "unethical" to discuss Kirill's private life, and the Russian Orthodox Church said on 4 April 2012 that foreign forces were taking revenge on it for supporting Putin: "The attacks have become more prominent during the pre-election and post-election period [... This] shows their political and also anti-Russian motives." In June 2012, Kirill was given the 2011 Silver Shoe Award  [ ru ] (given in Russia each year "for

3894-417: Was alleged to have acted as the largest supplier of foreign cigarettes in Russia. The profits of this operation allegedly under Kirill's direction were estimated to have totaled $ 1.5 billion by sociologist Nikolai Mitrokhin in 2004, and at $ 4 billion by The Moscow News in 2006. However, Nathaniel Davis said that "There is no evidence that Metropolitan Kirill has actually embezzled funds. What

3960-414: Was also a publication in the Finnish press. The motivation behind this claim and the supposed new evidence were both challenged. In a lengthy and detailed investigation, Russian journalist Anna Yarovaya examined the evidence and interviewed historians and those who had found the site. She talked to Finnish historians of the Second World War; Irina Flige of the Memorial Society and Sergei Kashtanov, head of

4026-491: Was created. The post-graduate department of the Moscow Theological Academy , which operated under the DECR, was transformed into the All-Church postgraduate and doctoral school named after Saints Cyril and Methodius Equal-to-the-Apostles  [ ru ] . On 27 July 2011, the Holy Synod of the Church established the Central Asian Metropolitan District, reorganizing the structure of the Church in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. Since 6 October 2011, at

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4092-470: Was criticised by some for the ROC's failures in the Diocese of Sourozh and Ukraine . On 6 December 2008, the day after the death of Patriarch Alexy II , the Russian Holy Synod elected him locum tenens of the Patriarchal throne. On 9 December, during the funeral service for Alexey II in Christ the Saviour Cathedral (which was broadcast live by Russia's state TV channels ), he was seen and reported to have fainted at one point. On 27 January 2009,

4158-421: Was elevated to the rank of archimandrite and was posted as a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church to the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva . On 26 December 1974, he was appointed rector of the Leningrad Academy and Seminary. Since December 1975, he has been a member of the WCC central committee and executive committee. In 1971, he was appointed representative of the Moscow Patriarchate at

4224-408: Was long thought that the barges carrying them were deliberately sunk on the way to the mainland, drowning all the prisoners on board. Others were rounded up during the Great Terror in Karelia, in accordance with quotas for prisoners, 'enemies of the regime', and a variety of "national operations". According to available documentation at least 6,000 were shot and buried at Sandarmokh. Today Sandarmokh

4290-522: Was performed in front of the altar . This act was considered a desecration and offence by many of Orthodox believers in Russia, and depicted as such in media. Commenting on the case, Kirill said they were "doing the work of Satan " and should be punished. This sparked criticism of the Orthodox Church on the Runet for not showing mercy , while Amnesty International described the women as " prisoners of conscience ". In their closing statements, members of Pussy Riot said that Patriarch Kirill had used

4356-456: Was succeeded at Sandarmokh by I.A. Bondarenko and his deputy A.F. Shondysh. Matveyev survived into old age; his successors were both arrested in 1938 and shot in 1939 for "exceeding their authorisation". Starting in 2016, there were attempts to revise this account of the shootings at Sandarmokh, and claim that among the dead were Soviet POWs shot by the invading Finns in 1941–1944 . There were newspaper articles and TV broadcasts in Russia; there

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