A Russian World War II re-enactment that staged a mock execution of traitors over the weekend has drawn both condemnation and praise, highlighting the lingering divisions over Stalin’s legacy. The Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, during which millions of Soviet soldiers and civilians were killed, is among the most widely celebrated holidays in Russia. During the war, Stalin ordered commanders to shoot deserters in the battlefield and declared that all Soviet prisoners of war were “traitors.”

Realistic-looking footage filmed in the republic of Altai on Saturday shows three uniformed soldiers shooting blanks at a peasant. Several attendees initially react with fear as the loud shots ring out and the “traitor” falls to the ground. “Death to traitors,” the event host’s voice can be heard saying over a PA system in the village of Shipunovo. Online reactions to the widely spread video ranged from those who called the mock execution “sick” to others who maintained that “people should know [this happened] so that it doesn’t happen again.”

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