On October 29, 2009 the human rights Society "Memorial" held an action "The Return of names," devoted to the memory of victims of political repressions. It was held in Moscow on Lubyanka Square, the KGB building used as political prison for decades, near the Solovetsky stone, a symbolic memorial to those people whose graves are unknown. It was brought from Solovki in 1990 and installed on Lubyanka Square on October 30. The purpose of the action is to call out the names of people who were shot in Moscow during Stalin's repressions. Name, age, occupation, date of execution - thousands of names were recited that day. At the beginning of the action, having brought together people of all ages, the Memorial staff Irina Ostrovskaya declared terrible numbers: of the725 thousand people executed on political charges in the Soviet Union in 1937-38, more than 30 thousand of them were executed in Moscow.

Also that day there were several excursions related to the history of political repressions. One of those places, where executions were carried out, is “Butovo shooting range”. By the mid 30's this land was fenced with barbed wire. Mass graves were begun. Local residents witnessed strange happenings... At first in Butovo "a shooting range" was established to condition the people of the surrounding villages to the gunshots. For a long time it was a place used by NKVD and KGB for mass graves of victims of political repressions.

Ksenya Fyodorovna Lyubimova, writer of a historical book about Butovo Shooting Range’s memory, said: "When we started working with files, I began to type these lists. I was struck by an incredible amount of priests; in some files there were sixteen of them..."

Close upon a thousand priests, monks, laypersons sacrificed their lives in the name of faith. Monstrous bloodbath continued at Butovo for 15 years. At present, the list of Martyrs and Confessors of The Russian Orthodox Church in XX century includes the names of 215 persons who were shot at Butovo.

"Few people know the history of the appearance of the Solovetsky stone in Arkhangelsk. In 1990 I was elected chairman of the Arkhangelsk regional organization "Conscience". Our movement, along with the "Memorial" organization, had the main task of perpetuating the memory of victims of political repression. We decided to start with a monument...

And we had an interesting idea to bring a stone from the Solovetsky Islands and set it on a pedestal. It was an idea from Archangelsk. In Moscow some people heard this idea. They asked us to bring a stone for Moscow monument. However, they noted that they needed only a temporary foundation stone. Nobody assumed that the Solovetsky stone would be situated in the heart of Moscow, and it was destined to become a great monument not for a year or two, but forever.

So in June we went to Solovki by steamer. There were more than enough stone boulders on the White Sea. But we needed to choose two among them... They should be so expressive that our trip to the famous islands in the White Sea would not be in vain.

When I returned to Arkhangelsk, I went to the Northern Steamship Company. I asked people to take these boulders from Solovki. But they refused as they didn’t have time to transport such goods. They didn’t want to talk about stones... A little more than a month later we suddenly received a phone a call from the Steamship Company. We needed to go to Solovki immediately. A cargo motorship came into the port. After unloading it went to Arkhangelsk and could carry the stones.

On October 30, 1990 the grand opening of the monument took place in Moscow. Thousands of Muscovites gathered in this day officially declared as the Day of the Political Prisoner in the USSR for the first time in Russia's history (now it is the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Political Repression). The meeting was attended by former political prisoners. Then hundreds of candles broke out and a great number of flowers were laid at the pedestal of the monument. A lot of people who were on the Lubyanka Square that day considered that it was the best monument they could imagine. No one dreamed of another monument. The boulder had taken the road from Solovki to Arkhangelsk and then to Moscow, so it became a special symbol of Russia. It symbolizes both the memory of the past and the warning to future generations. Grinding tyranny, violence, humiliation of the people – all these things which we have been able to outlive - we have to ensure they will not happen again".

(Fragment of an article written by Butorin M. "The Solovetsky stone on Lubyanka" / M. Butorin / Pravda Severa. - 31.08.2000).

A Solovetsky memorial stone is also located in Jordanville (USA). It was established there in memory of the New Martyrs, who died at the Solovetsky Camp of Special Designation.