It amounts to the same thing.
Unfortunately, there are many in Russia who still push for remembrance of Stalin as a revolutionary and wonderful "creator, thinker, and patriot." An old friend of mine has told me stories of seeing the "little old Communist ladies'" groups picketing outside of government buildings with signs saying "Bring Back Comrade Stalin!".
I would say it is sad the way that history is politicized, but it is unfortunate that it is inevitable. Every culture shades its history, and interprets the same events rather differently. (Even within one culture, this happens all the time; see the American Civil War.)
However, it is absolutely insane for anyone to support the kind of mass murderer that Stalin was. Even the president of Russia agrees, though the Prime Minister may not.
Stalin is not the only monster to have people actively trying to rehabilitate him, but probably one of the most high profile to have such a large group behind him. (The question of Mao is an entirely different one, since he has never been fully vilified to the degree he probably deserves, but despite some blowhards even he does not live up to the evil of Stalin.) Here's hoping that historical revisionism does not win out.
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