Russian authorities have removed a bust of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin that had been raised illegally in a Siberian city.

Authorities in the city of Surgut dismantled the bust on October 6, nearly one month after Stalin supporters unveiled it near a site allocated for a monument dedicated to the victims of the dictator's purges.

City officials said the bust was erected without official permission.

Rights activists also protested the move, saying the bust hurt the feelings of thousands of people whose relatives were forced to relocate to the region by Stalin's regime in the 1930s.

Unknown individuals vandalized the bust twice by splashing red paint on it.

Based on reporting by ugra-news.ru and Interfax