Support The Moscow Times!

Culture Minister: Lenin Should Finally Be Buried

Encased in glass and covered to the waist with a blanket, Lenin's body is still on display for members of the public, who shuffle through a dark underground chamber in the mausoleum illuminated by dim red-tinged lights. Andrei Makhonin

Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky told radio listeners over the weekend that Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin's body should be laid to rest and his mausoleum turned into a museum.

"I have always though that his body should be returned to the earth. I would observe all the essential rituals," the minister told Ekho Moskvy on Saturday.

"Since he was a senior public figure, if the decision were made, the burial should be accompanied by all the appropriate state rituals, distinctions and a military salute, in a worthy place."

But leaving Lenin's body in a state of "suspension" was "absurd," he said.

As a museum, the mausoleum would be a popular tourist destination, and the costs for tickets could be high, he added.

Medinsky said that a decision had not been made on the matter earlier because the burial would have cost the authorities votes in elections.

Popular support for burying the founding Soviet leader has been on the rise, though it still stands at just over half the population.

A poll in mid-April by the Public Opinion Foundation, or FOM, found that 56 percent of Russians were in favor, compared with 46 percent six years ago. In the April poll, 28 percent of respondents said Lenin should remain in his mausoleum on Red Square.

Lenin's embalmed body, treated by highly trained specialists to prevent decomposition, was interred in a mausoleum in the center of Red Square shortly after his death in 1924.

Encased in glass and covered to the waist with a blanket, Lenin's body is still on display for members of the public, who shuffle through a dark underground chamber in the mausoleum illuminated by dim red-tinged lights.

… we have a small favor to ask.

As you may have heard, The Moscow Times, an independent news source for over 30 years, has been unjustly branded as a "foreign agent" by the Russian government. This blatant attempt to silence our voice is a direct assault on the integrity of journalism and the values we hold dear.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. Our commitment to providing accurate and unbiased reporting on Russia remains unshaken. But we need your help to continue our critical mission.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just 2. It's quick to set up, and you can be confident that you're making a significant impact every month by supporting open, independent journalism. Thank you.

Continue

Read more