More than half of Russians want to see Lenin's body removed from his mausoleum on Red Square, according to a new survey.
Some 32 percent of people want to see the Soviet leader's body buried “as soon as possible,” according to data by state-backed pollster VTsIOM.
Thirty-one percent said any burial should wait until “the generation which reveres Lenin has passed away,” while 31 percent said that Lenin's preserved body should remain in state.
Public opinion has remained almost unchanged for the past decade, with 62 percent of Russians telling researchers in 2005 that Lenin's body should be buried. Despite this, Lenin remains on display in his mausoleum.
Although the majority of the public would like to see Lenin interred, he still enjoys some popularity in Russian society.
According to VTsIOM data from January 2016, just under one in three Russians (31 percent) believes that Lenin's work benefited the country. Another 35 percent said that he "brought good and bad in equal measure," and just under a quarter of Russians (23 percent) saw Lenin's influence as negative.
