Officials have said that portraits of Josef Stalin will hang in Vladivostok, Russia, on the anniversary of the Nazis' surrender to the Soviet Union in World War II.

A city council member told RIA Novosti that despite the Soviet dictator's criminal activities, "we should remember that for the few veterans still alive, Stalin and other commanders were their commanders."

Historians also say that Stalin launched the Great Terror of 1936-1938 to purge the Soviet Communist Party of people accused of sabotage, terrorism or treachery. He later extended the campaign to the military and other sectors of Soviet society.

Targeted people were often executed, imprisoned in Gulag labor camps or exiled.

It is indicated by historical records that in later years, millions of members of ethnic minorities were deported in an ethnic-cleansing campaign.

RIA Novosti said that yet many Russians believe Stalin pulled the Soviet Union through the war and freed Europe from Nazism.

Vladivostok's portrait decision followed Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov's announcement this month he would decorate the capital with Stalin's portraits during Victory Day celebrations May 9.

It was also reported that human-rights activists protested Luzhkov's decision, threatening to stage demonstrations if the posters were put up. The Kremlin also said it was not happy with the portrait decision.

Stalin has not been represented in Moscow's Victory Day decorations for decades.

Communist officials have said that a Stalin bust will also be placed in the industrial city of Tambov, about 300 miles southeast of Moscow, in time for the anniversary. (With Inputs from Agencies)