Sixty years on, Russians divided over Stalin Many see him as a bloody tyrant responsible for the deaths of millions, while others view him as an effective leader who helped defeat Hitler. Sixty years after his death on the 5th march 1953, Joseph Stalin is a deeply ambivalent figure for modern day Russians. Images and soundbites from an interview with Arseni Raginski, the president of the NGO "Mémorial", known for its work on researching the crimes of the Stalin era.