A debate about religious sensitivities has been ignited in Russia over one of history's most significant atheists.
Vladimir Petrov, a lawmaker from the Leningrad region, has suggested the embalmed body of Vladimir Lenin be removed from its mausoleum in the center of Moscow and be buried on the centennial of his death in 2024.
Petrov said that the Bolshevik revolutionary, who lies beneath a glass sarcophagus next to the Kremlin, could still be commemorated with a wax replica.
But this got short shrift from the political party Communists of Russia, which is seeking legal advice on whether such a suggestion incited hatred and even insulted religious feelings.
Committee secretary of the party, Sergei Malinkovich, said two articles of Russia's criminal code may have been violated, including Article 148, which deals with "insulting the feelings of believers."
"If one interprets supporters of Marxism-Leninism as followers of an ideology, he certainly insulted them all. But mainly there is Article 282, that is, incitement to hatred. We will not let such statements rest.
"He clearly wants to insult the Communists and humiliate them in public. We will respond. We expect that there will be a collection of signatures for his withdrawal," Malinkovich told MBK News.
The Communists of Russia is separate to the more popular Communist Party of Russia (KPRF) and its candidate in the last presidential elections, Maxim Suraikin, got the fewest votes.
But the debate over the final resting place of Lenin is regularly raised. Lenin, born in Ulyanovsk by the Volga River led the revolution in St Petersburg and was said to have never liked Moscow.
When he died in January 1924, his body was temporarily embalmed to stop it from decomposing as crowds paid their respects as it lay in state. The cold Russian winter staved off decomposition further, and when the warmer weather arrived, Soviet officials decided to permanently preserve the body.
Maintaining his body, which many tourists come to see, costs the Russian state around $200,000 a year, according to The Moscow Times.
Figures from all sides of the political spectrum dispute the wisdom of Lenin's sarcophagus. In the last election campaign, liberal candidate Ksenia Sobchak vowed to bury Lenin if she won.
Chechen strongman president Ramzan Kadyrov said that it was not right that a coffin with a dead person "is standing in the heart of Russia." Leader of the Communist Party, Gennady Zyuganov, has said that burying Lenin would be "blasphemous."
Duma deputy Natalia Polkonskaya, who is 38 and is popular among many younger Russians, said that any decision on the fate of Lenin's body would mark a new stage in the development of Russia.
"Ultimately, to look at a corpse in the center of the capital is, at the very least, inhuman," she added.
"If a decision on a burial is made, it will mean a new era for our Motherland. It would turn the page from our past and show a readiness to move forward," she said, according to Newsrambler.ru.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. His focus is Russia and Ukraine, in particular ... Read more
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