Russian mayor enrages town by dressing Lenin and Catherine the Great monuments in Father Frost and Snow Maiden holiday costumes

The mayor of a town outside Yekaterinburg finds himself apologizing for a holiday makeover that dressed outdoor monuments of Vladimir Lenin and Catherine the Great as Ded Moroz (Father Frost) and Snegurochka (Snow Maiden) for New Year’s celebrations. “We were just trying to create a festive mood,” Mayor Nikolai Yudin explained on social media in response to local outrage about the costumes. Before the mayor’s apology, his office disabled online comments on its December 25 announcement revealing the holiday fun.

“I still believe we insulted the memory of neither Catherine the Great nor Vladimir Ilyich Lenin! Such practices have existed in other cities (for example, in Moscow, the monument to Yuri Dolgorukiy opposite city hall was dressed up), but I apologize if our actions offended anyone. New Year’s is around the corner — let’s try to be kinder,” Mayor Yudin wrote on his VKontakte page.