The investigators have determined that on November 10, at 8 a.m. local time, Stepan Silvestrovich Zakrevsky . . . took a brass cross and an icon belonging to his landlady, Urusova, without her permission, and left the building. . . .

Zakrevsky went to a kindergarten and tore down a banner from the gate. The banner contained an appeal from the Central Committee, stating, “Working people of the USSR! Let us unify under the leadership of the Communist Party and the Soviet government! Let us mobilize all our energy and creativity for the great project of building Communism!” [. . .]

Leaving the kindergarten, Zakrevsky headed to an office building, where he attempted to tear down a banner that hung on the wall. He was unable to do so and headed toward a club.

Zakrevsky found a ladder near the club. He set it so the top was near the window above the doorway, went up the ladder, and tore down the portrait of V. I. Lenin. He threw the portrait to the ground, breaking the glass and the frame. He then put the brass cross and the icon where the portrait had been. Zakrevsky came down and trampled the portrait while making anti-Soviet statements.

On November 12, 1956, before issuing the arrest warrant, I personally interrogated Zakrevsky. He made the following statement: “By tearing down the banners and the portrait of the founder of the Soviet state, I wanted to awaken the people and show them what to do in the future.

“It wasn’t until I was middle-aged that I realized that Lenin’s program only deludes the people and leads them to struggle against God. This program has led the people to prisons and daggers.

“I developed my convictions, dissatisfaction, and anger while imprisoned in correctional labor camps.”

GARF, f. R-8131, op. 31, d. 78491, l. 2-3. Typewritten original.