News in Brief
Mausoleum to be renovated: The mausoleum for Russia’s revolutionary leader
must undergo major repair work after its foundation suffered water damage, the Kremlin said Monday.
The communist icon’s body will also undergo preservation work, a move that adds fuel to a debate in Russia about whether his remains should be buried.
The Lenin Mausoleum, a boxy structure standing just outside the Kremlin walls on Red Square, has not seen any major works for 80 years, said Sergei Devyatov, a representative of the Kremlin’s secret service, which is responsible for the building.
The mausoleum’s foundation is starting to tilt and has become water-damaged. Works to eliminate the problem will take until April, he said. “We have also scheduled works to maintain Lenin’s body,” Devyatov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
The body will not be moved during the works, he said.
A team of scientists periodically restores Lenin’s body, when it is given a new suit and various preservation treatments.
Debates on whether to remove the body from the mausoleum constructed in 1924, when Lenin died at age 53, started after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Though the mausoleum is a tourist attraction, increasing numbers of Russians are calling for Lenin to be buried. Russia’s Communist party vehemently opposes the idea.
In the latest big debate on the issue last year, the ruling party United Russia launched a campaign for Lenin’s burial, however the discussion was quickly shelved.
At that time, 56 percent of Russians said it would be better to bury Lenin, while 31 percent said his body should be left alone, a Levada poll said.
President Vladimir Putin earlier this month said the body reflects Russian tradition, even controversially comparing it to the ancient Orthodox relics of saints displayed in famous monasteries in Russia, Ukraine, and Greece.
“The Communists have taken on the tradition,” he said at the time. “They did this with knowledge and considering the needs of their time.” (AFP) Georgia to review deals: Georgia’s new government will review some investment projects and deals brokered by its predecessor because they go against the interests of the country, Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili said on Monday.
Ivanishvili became prime minister after his opposition coalition deprived President Mikheil Saakashvili’s party of a parliamentary majority in an Oct 1 election, ending his nine-year dominance of the Caucasus nation of 4.5 million.
Speaking at a press conference, Ivanishvili said the government would move cautiously to avoid frightening investors away from the ex-Soviet republic. “There are projects and contracts that were signed by the previous government and are ... not beneficial for our country. We plan to review these projects, but we want to do it without scaring business and spoiling relations with other countries,” he said.
Among the projects Ivanishvili cited was a power station in southern Georgia’s Gardabani region that involved the participation of Turkish company Mimsan Group and Russia’s InterRao.
Hydropower projects and some deals that gave control of natural resources to investors could also be reviewed, he said.
Ivanishvili indicated the government had questions about the funding of the $600 million Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway that would link Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, including a 29-kilometre stretch of track in Georgia.
“It’s a very interesting project from a geopolitical point of view, but there are some economic questions about it,” Ivanishvili said, adding that the government would discuss the railway with Azerbaijan. He is slated to visit Baku on Wednesday. (RTRS)