There is this thing in Russia called the Immortal Regiment, basically the soldiers in ww2 who fought the Germans. Celebrating this regiment has been a huge point of emphasis the last decade or so with Putin's government.
I originate from the most western point of Russia, but family of these soldiers have been called to attend events in the bigger cities like Moscow.
Kaliningrad is compeltely detached from the main borders of Russia. Many of the Russians living in the region immigrated there after ww2, for the most part the German people living there are forced to leave to make room for the Russians. Not all left, some in my family had been in the baltics since the time of paganism in the region and refused to be moved. Anyways, it's "new" land for Russia so this rush to settle Kaliningrad is sort of like going from Europe in the 1500s to the Americas. There's ample opportunity in this place.
It's also the country's access point to the Baltic Sea, so since the city was decimated by Nazis and Soviets alike in ww2, a lot of money has been pumped into the region. At first Kaliningrad was very strict and imposing of communist ideals, being so close to all these european countries. Sometime in the late 90s things really started to change, and capitalism really thrived over the next few decades.
In this western point of Russia there is a small collective of Russians who are nostalgic for communism, but the vast majority have embraced the spotlight that the government has put on the region, giving it the best economy since before ww2 and it was still named Konigsberg - aka the capital of the Prussian Empire.
So my family gets called to go to Moscow (I think) for this Immprtal Regiment event some years ago. You carry pictures of the deceased, missing, or anyone who served. Everyone puts these pictures on sticks so they can keep the pictures of the relatives high in the air, above the heads of people so they can be seen by all. This immortal regiment has been treated like a myth or legend in present times, the government really pushing this narrative for nationalistic purposes.
So we are with a small group of people also from Kaliningrad, we meet up with a larger group of "marchers". All goes well until we congregate to listen to some speakers, several in a row who are extremely passionate about the past and communism. It gets a little awkward for those of us from Kaliningrad, but we do not make a fuss... this event is about bringing people together, not arguing.
We move to a church now, one of those old and beautiful orthodox buildings. Not uncommon to say a prayer for your loved ones, this is a very strong part of Russian culture still today (women are sometimes asked to wear head coverings and adhear to other dress codes. It depends on the church).
And this is where shit begins to go down.
Apparently one of the speakers was running late and missed an opportunity to to address us before we moved to the Church. I have no idea what he was thinking, but he tries to give his speech while inside. He's only able to get out an appraisal of Stalin (not uncommon, but also not something you speak in public about) before a group of 10 officers, some in plainclothes, literally pick this guy up and remove him from the building like he is a sack of flour.
I have no idea why he thought it was a good place to speak, but general rule of thumb in Russia is to be extremely respectful in an orthodox place of worship.
A good deal of Russians still do support communistic ideals, but this is while they are reaping the benefits of capitalism. For example, for every service there are two prices listed. One for locals and one for tourists. The tourist price is a very high mark up compared to the local price. One may argue that this is still in the vein of communism to charge more for those who are not Russian. But they will still charge Russians from a different region the higher price, so it's not really supporting the Russian people as a whole.
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