Ransom for Lenin

Dec. 6, 2011

Authorities in the Ukrainian city of Uzhgorod offered local Communists to buy a bronze Lenin statue for 75,000 euros ($100,000), saving it from being remade into a monument to a Greek Catholic bishop.

The Soviet-era monument was removed from the streets of Uzhgorod in 1991 and put in storage, Segodnya.ua news web site reported.

Last year, City Hall ruled to give it to the local Greek Catholic community, which plans to remake it into a statue of bishop Andrei Bachinsky, an 18th-century Enlightenment figure.

The Communists protested the move, prompting City Hall to offer them the buyout option. The hefty price tag is because the monument is 3.5 tons of bronze, the report said.

It remained unclear Tuesday who will get the statue.

(MT)

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