Grave event

Russian Communist Party supporters pay their respects at the mausoleum of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin on Red Square outside the Kremlin wall in Moscow, marking the Soviet leader's birthday anniversary yesterday. More than 50 years have passed since Stalin died on March 5, 1953, but many Russians still revere him as a great leader who defeated Hitler and made the Soviet Union a superpower, despite his devastating purges which killed millions of people.Dec 22, 2005

PHOTO: AFP