From the Moscow Times:
Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin of the Russian Orthodox Church is no stranger to controversy.However, some Russians do remember Stalin's legacy of slaughter, exile and terror. Just this week a memorial to Stalin was vandalized the very night after it was dedicated.
The staunchly conservative Orthodox priest has stuck his nose in everything from Kremlin involvement in eastern Ukraine to women's rights. He's claimed that women wearing short skirts “should not be surprised if they are raped,” and has railed against mixed-denomination Christian congregations.
But he outdid himself on Aug. 15, when he turned a question on a new statue dedicated to Ivan the Terrible into an ode to Stalin – dodging the question to declare both his support for the Soviet leader and the brutal purges in which millions of Russians were killed.
“He [Stalin] did a lot. At the end of it all, what's so bad about destroying some of [Russia's] internal enemies?,” said Chaplin on the Echo Moskvy radio station.
