Critics Scoff as Kremlin Erects Monument to the Repressedbr 30, 2017br MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin on Monday called the unveiling of the first Kremlin-promoted monument to the victims of political repression an important step toward preventing oppression in Russia,br but critics accused the government of hypocrisy given the continued lack of political rights.br The museum itself has been picketed by opponents who label the entire Gulag experience "fiction." "The factbr that it is taking place by presidential decree and it is supported by ordinary citizens, who gave money for the monument, indicates to me that this is a new point of reckoning," Mr. Romanov said.br "The current Russian government, in sponsoring the opening of the monument, is trying to pretendbr that political repression is a thing long since past," the petition read.br "We state with certainty that Russia’s current political prisoners are worthy of our helpbr and attention no less than the victims of the Soviet regime are worthy of our memory and respect." Among those who signed were famous Soviet-era dissidents, including Aleksandr Podrabinek, Pavel Litvinov and Vladimir Bukovsky, as well as Mustafa Dzhemilev, a longstanding Tatar leader in Crimea who was exiled after opposing Russia’s 2014 annexation.br " she said at a news conference before the unveiling, "it will mean our state says: ‘Terror is a crime.