The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, has passed a resolution in recognition of the 1940 Katyn massacre, describing it as a “crime by the Stalinist regime and the Soviet Union, a totalitarian state”.

The resolution, carried by 342 votes for to 52 against, states that "for years materials have been held in secret Kremlin archives showing that the Katyn massacre was the result of a direct order from Stalin and other Soviet leaders."