MOSCOW. Dec 8 (Interfax) - Russian officials and citizens are not quite aware of the danger of the possible return to Stalinism, journalist and Public Chamber member Nikolai Svanidze said at two-day conference on Stalinism history on Monday.

"Probably, an understanding [of this danger] is insufficient, in particular, amongst top-ranking officials," he said.

Neither former Russian President Vladimir Putin nor incumbent President Dmitry Medvedev have shown signs of Stalinism, Svanidze said. "There was absolutely no Stalinism there," he added, referring to personal communication with Putin and Medvedev.

Meanwhile, Director General of the Russian Political Encyclopedia Publishing House Andrei Sorokin called attention to the dangerous pro-Stalin feelings in the Russian society.

"When fifty percent of people [according to recent polls] positively evaluate the role of Joseph Stalin in the national history that is not dramatic, that is catastrophic," he said.