Uproar over Putin's Lenin comments
2012-12-11 21:16
Moscow - Russia President Vladimir Putin came under
criticism from rights activists on Tuesday after he compared Vladimir Lenin's
embalmed corpse to the holy relics of Christian saints.
In a speech on Monday before a group of supporters, Putin
spoke against the idea of removing Lenin's mausoleum from Red Square in Moscow
where his corpse is housed.
"Many say the mausoleum contradicts traditions. What
contradicts traditions? Go to the Kiev Caves Monastery [in Ukraine] or look at [Russia's] Pskov monastery or Mount Athos [in Greece].
There are relics of
saints there. You can see everything there," Putin said.
The remarks provoked sharp criticism by rights activists
and NGOs such as Memorial, which works on the preservation of the memory of the
victims of Soviet repressions.
"It is an absolutely baseless comparison," said
Memorial board member Yan Rachinsky.
"If someone needs these relics, one could build a
special 'communist church' somewhere," he said.
Debates on whether to remove or not Lenin's body from the
mausoleum constructed in Red Square in 1924 started after the collapse of the
Soviet Union in 1991.
