Most Russians say Lenin should be buried

MOSCOW, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Two-thirds of Russians believe the embalmed body of Vladimir Lenin should be removed from its mausoleum in Red Square and be buried, a poll indicates.

The poll, conducted by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center, revealed that only 15 percent of Russians agreed with the statement "the body of the people's leader has the right to stay in the mausoleum on the country's main square," RIA Novosti reported Tuesday.

Lenin's body has been on public display in a glass case in downtown Moscow since his death on Jan. 21, 1924, almost 85 years ago. His continuing presence there has been controversial since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, but efforts to transfer the body of the architect of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution to a regular cemetery have been blocked by Russian communists.

The Russian news agency said the poll found that 41 percent of Russians believe keeping Lenin's body in the mausoleum is "wrong and unnatural."

The opinion poll was conducted Nov. 8-9 in 140 Russian cities and towns, including 1,600 respondents. No margin of error was reported.