Galina, pensioner
“It’s great that they’ve put up a monument. Abroad, everyone jokes: No matter what weapon you pick up, it’s always a Kalashnikov.
Asked whether it wouldn’t be better to set up a statue to a cultural figure, she said: “There aren’t enough squares to put up monuments to all the great Russian writers.”
Vladimir [Last name withheld]
“Before putting up this monument, they should have asked what ordinary Muscovites thought. Maybe they would have wanted a statue to the Soviet Union Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky, instead.”
“Look at the Zaradye Park, for example. They made it without consulting the people who live here, changing one of the oldest locations in Moscow with a foreign idea in an attempt to create something modern.”
“There’s a very tense atmosphere at the moment, and our adversaries could use [such monuments] as part of their propaganda efforts.”
[Identity withheld] 26 years old, male
“I think this is just a money-laundering attempt, setting up another monument that has nothing to do with this place.”