New arguments over what to do with the embalmed body of former premier Vladimir Lenin, which lies in state in Moscow's Red Square, have heated up again in Russia. The controversial question of whether or not to bury Lenin's body was debated during the early 90's, when Boris Yeltsin was in office, but was never resolved, due to strong protest reactions from Russian Communist Party members.

Regional governor: his ideas have died, let's bury him
 
The subject of Lenin's burial surfaced again last week though, this time with the help of Georgiy Poltavchenko, a governor from a central Russian province. In a speech, Poltavchaneko defended the idea of buring Lenin's embalmed corpse, saying "Our country has passed through countless dramas. The people who created these dramas mostly never had to account for their actions. As far as I'm concerned, the person behind Russia's biggest period of crisis is Vladimir Lenin, and the fact that he continues to lie by the wall of the Kremlin is not just. According to our traditions, he must be buried at once."
For a Christian country like Russia, we are behaving like idolators
 
Speaking in support of Poltavchenko's suggestion, the head of the Russian Cultural Fund, Nikita Mihalkov, said "The situation is of course not normal at all. For a Christian country like Russia to keep a corpse the way idolators would in the central square of the country is a disgusting situation. During the Soviet era, there was the insanity that dictated that for a good coal mine worker, a prize would be that he would get to go to the Red Square and see Lenin's body. To keep Lenin's body in the Red Square is a continuation of that insanity. And on top of everything, in order to keep that embalmed body in good condition is costing the government an enormous amount of money."
 
A proposal to have Lenin buried by his mother in Saint Petersburg was countered by Communist Party leader Gennady Zyganov, who said it was not appropriate to have him buried anywhere.
 
Lenin, who led the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, died in 1924.