Joseph Stalin: Russian communists request that the FSB look into any potential Western participation in the Soviet leader's death.

According to the head of the Communist Party of Russia, there were discussions among Stalin's peers about the "possible poisoning of the leader" by "agents of Western influence".

The Russian Communist Party has requested that the security service look into the possibility that Western intelligence agencies had a hand in Joseph Stalin's demise.

Stalin controlled the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953; at the time, a hemorrhagic stroke was reported as the reason of death.

However, it seems that party chairman Sergei Malinkovich is not happy with the official version of events. He has announced that he has requested prosecutors and the Federal Security Service (FSB) to "check the possible involvement of Western intelligence services in the death of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin".

The 71st anniversary of Stalin's passing was observed on Tuesday.

According to the state-owned RIA news agency, "many testimonies from Stalin's contemporaries speak of the possible poisoning of the leader of the Soviet nations by agents of Western influence," he continued.

Whether the Prosecutor General's office or the FSB had responded to the party's request was not immediately apparent.

In addition to overseeing Russia's quick industrialization and exercising absolute control, Stalin was responsible for millions of deaths via famines, Gulag work camps, and purges.

As the successor to the late tsars, President Vladimir Putin has presented a balanced critique of Stalin, hailing his military prowess but denouncing his "totalitarian" domestic policies.

When Russians vote later this month, President Putin is most likely to win a second six-year term in office.