A monument to Zoya in the city of Tambov. In the background is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan. Image source: tambovinfo.ru.

In the new millenium a new attitude towards Zoya emerged within Russian people. Though she was a member of the Young Communist League, as a matter of fact, she folowed the teaching of Christ who spoke "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). Everything started with a call to pray for Zoya and went all the way through to a proposal to Russian Orthodox Church to canonize Zoya. This was a radical development because if Zoya is indeed a saint of God then we don't need to pray for her, but can pray to her.

Sources:
Vladimir Lesovoy, Pray for Zoya and Sasha (in Russian)
Kp.ru, Kosmodemyanskaya should become Saint Zoya (in Russian)

Background music: "God save you" by Janna Bichevskaya.