forbidden by the Constitution of Russia of that time. According to former Duma deputy, Vladimir Ryzhkov of the Russian Republican Party, the commission and new legislation criminalizing criticism of the Soviet Union allows the state to impose its own idea of political will and ideology and was also part of a continuing rehabilitation of Stalin and the former Soviet dictator's policies. Human rights activist and former lawmaker Lev Ponomaryov dubbed the decree openly totalitarian and claimed that it discredited President Medvedev as a lawyer. Mikhail Gorbachev has also expressed disapproval of Medvedev's decree. Some Russian media and individual opposition journalists also criticised the developments. The business daily Vedomosti noted the name of the commission leaves the way clear for the falsification of history in favor of Russia, establishing a "cult of victory"similar to the civil religions upon which authoritarian and totalitarian states have been built in the past. Journalist and author Yulia Latynina compared the commission to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four: "The whole idea was copied from Orwell's 1984 and from the famous phrase about Russia as a country with unpredictable past." According to the newspaper Vremya Novostei, the struggle over historical truth in Russia declared at the highest level has taken grotesque form as an article by historian Sergey Kovalyov published on the official website of the Russian Ministry of Defence blamed Poland for starting World War II. Historian Roy Medvedev criticized the commission for the numbers of professional historians there; he counted three members as historians out of actual five, stating "even they are not recognized among professionals." Outside Russia The legislation received criticism in many countries, mainly former Warsaw Pact and former Soviet republics. The Baltic states argue about the recognition of the occupation, Ukraine disputes the famine in 1930s, and Poland argues the massacre in Katyn. Critics said the official view from Moscow glossed over Soviet-era crimes. In many countries the years of the Soviet Union are seen as hostile Soviet occupations. Some critics, like Heorhiy Kasyanov from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, said the Kremlin was trying to whitewash Soviet history in order to justify its denial of human rights: "It's part of the Russian Federation's policy to create an ideological foundation for what is happening in Russia right now." Historian and author Orlando Figes, a professor at the University of London, who views the new commission is part of a clampdown on