In western Moscow, an anonymous driveway cuts through dense woods, past a green fence, into a clandestine facility. The fortifications seem fit to protect a state nuclear lab or the estate of a Russian tycoon, but these walls are guarding an unresolved past. Behind them lies the dacha of Joseph Stalin, sealed off from the public, run by Russia’s equivalent to the secret service and all but untouched since the day the Soviet leader died in 1953 on the dining-room floor. Even the furniture has been left almost exactly as Stalin arranged it.

The secretive limbo that has enveloped the country home reflects a broader equivocation about Stalin’s legacy, which remains unresolved as Russia prepares to mark the 70th anniversary of Soviet victory over the Nazis on May 9.

Despite President Vladimir Putin’s embrace of the Soviet past and its symbols, the Kremlin has adopted a notably ambivalent approach to Stalin that highlights his crimes but leaves room for his lionization, particularly regarding victory in World War II.

“The issue is that Stalin is one of the few themes that, in contrast to many others, divides Putin’s base,” says Gleb Pavlovsky, a political consultant and former Kremlin adviser. “It’s a delicate question that Putin prefers not to clarify so as not to force too difficult a choice, because with either variant, he narrows his support.”

The absence of a resolute condemnation has seemingly helped Stalin’s image. Only 20% of Russians said they viewed Stalin with dislike, fear or disgust in a March poll by the Levada Center, an independent polling organization, down from 43% in 2001. Some 45% said that Stalin’s achievements justified the era’s casualties to at least some degree—up from 27% in 2008.