Moscow  - Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator who ordered millions to their death in labor camps, was named as Russia's third- greatest man in history over the weekend.

The "Name of Russia" contest set by state-television channel Rossiya sought to elevate a historical figure from Russia's Tsarist and Soviet period in a bid to build up patriotism.

Local media said a total of one in three Russians, or more than 50 million, voted by telephone, text message and Internet since the campaign kicked-off in June.

London, Dec 8 : A British historian has accused the Russian authorities of attempting to hide from the world the dastardly deeds that were done in Soviet Russia under Stalin.

According to a report in the Guardian, eminent British historian Orlando Figes has accused the Russian authorities of trying to ‘rehabilitate the Stalinist regime’ after armed police seized an entire archive last week detailing repression in the Soviet Union.

Figes, professor of history at Birkbeck, a London University college, condemned the raid on Memorial, a Russian human rights organisation.