60% of Russians support the idea of removing Lenin from the Mausoleum on Red Square

In a January 2016 survey conducted by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center, 60 percent of the 1,600 respondents from 130 cities and towns across Russia supported the idea removing Vladimir Lenin's body from the Mausoleum on Red Square. 36 percent were in favor of reburying the former Bolshevik leader at a cemetery, while 21 precent thought it fitting to place him within Kremlin wall—a tradition begun by the Bolsheviks to show reverence and respect.

The research center's survey also contained questions about what respondents thought Lenin represented. For example, more than 75 percent of respondents used the word “leader” to characterize Lenin. 24 percent thought it best to wait for the last of the generation for whom Lenin represented the leader of the world proletariat to pass on before making any decisions about his removal from Red Square.

For some time now, a majority of Russians have supported the idea of Lenin's removal. The discussion has carried for almost two decades. In 2011, more than 200,000 people voted on political party United Russia's website wether or not to rebury Lenin away from Red Square. Almost 70 percent voted in favor of Lenin's reburial.