Roy Medvedev, the Russian politician and historian who documented the Stalin era in "Let History Judge," died Feb. 13, 2026, of heart failure. He was 100.
Medvedev spent over 60 years analyzing Soviet history from within the USSR. He was an identical twin to the biologist Zhores Medvedev. He utilized a rigorous, evidence-based approach to research, often working in secret to gather testimonies that challenged official government narratives.
He faced expulsion from the Communist Party in 1969 after he published his research abroad. In 1972, he published "Let History Judge" in English, providing a comprehensive account of Stalinism by a Soviet citizen. He later wrote a biography of Nikita Khrushchev (in 1982), won a seat in the Congress of People's Deputies (in 1989), and published a study of Vladimir Putin (in 2000).
Medvedev authored more than 30 books on Russian politics and history. He provided commentary on Russian political affairs and historical memory until the end of his life. He lived through the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of modern Russia, maintaining his role as a public intellectual into his centennial year.