Second Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma (1994-2004) has said he is totally against the opening of monuments to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
"I’m totally against this… There should be at least a local referendum on such issues, but if this is done without rhyme or reason, then I think it’s absolutely incorrect," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.
Kuchma said that the number of soldiers killed during the Second World War could not be compared with the number of those who died in Nazi Germany. He said that Stalin "used people as cannon fodder."
"Therefore, we can say that we gained a victory by quantity, rather than quality," Kuchma said.
"So I think that monuments to such people should not be built," he said.
