The Kremlin will not move the embalmed body of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin from his mausoleum on Red Square because it fears splitting Russian society, a spokesman said Thursday.

Lenin was embalmed after his death on Jan. 21, 1924, and placed in a mausoleum in the shadow of the Kremlin's walls.

But the fate of the firebrand revolutionary — who still draws crowds of tourists — is an extremely emotional question in post-Soviet Russia, and opinion polls show that society is split on the issue.

"The Russian leadership has currently no plans to move Lenin from the mausoleum," Kremlin property chief Vladimir Kozhin told reporters. "Any movement or decision on this question could stir up the country and divide it. So why do it?"

(Reuters)