Letter From Moscow: A New Home for a (Very) Old Comrade?

After 81 years, Russians ponder whether the time has finally come to bury Lenin

From the outside, the mausoleum still looks impeccable, its brown marble and granite façade polished to a gleaming shine. But today Vladimir Lenin's tomb is a site of only passing interest, and the gleam from its walls reflects the lights of the shops across Red Square: Louis Vuitton, Kenzo, Chanel. "The only Muscovites who come here are showing a visitor around," says a policeman on duty near the tomb. "Always out-of-towners. You can tell from their clothes--like ours from about 15 years ago." The officer hasn't been inside to see Lenin's embalmed body since 1998. "I had just finished military service...

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