Georgia: Stalin's Grandson Sues Russian Newspaper for Katyn Massacre Claim

Evgeni Jughashvili, grandson of Georgia-born Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, has filed a lawsuit against the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, claiming that the periodical published material that damaged the "dignity and honor" of Stalin's family.

Citing fresh archival sources, a July 22 story in Novaya Gazeta reported that Stalin personally signed mass execution orders for the 1940 Katyn massacre in Poland. Stalin sympathizers in the former Soviet Union tend to embrace the belief that such executions were carried out on the initiative of secret police chief Lavrentii Beria.

Jughashvili claimed that the article smeared the name of his grandfather, the RIA news agency reported on July 31. The leader of Georgia's all-but-extinct communists, Jughashvili is demanding a retraction, an apology and 10 million rubles ($32,000 roughly) in damages.