Talking to Spanish reporters ahead of an official visit to Spain, which starts Wednesday, Putin said, "I believe Russian citizens suffered internecine strife and civil confrontation as much as or even more than Spaniards did during the Civil War. So today, instead of fostering a rift, we should work... toward [national] reunification and reconciliation."
The removal of Lenin's mummified body from the mausoleum on Red Square, where it has been on display since the Bolshevik leader's death in 1924, has been the subject of heated political debates in post-Soviet Russia. Some have argued Lenin should be laid to rest at a regular cemetery. Others, primarily neo-communists, have insisted that the structure remain his final resting place.
