Vladimir Kozhin, head of the Kremlin property management department, also told the Rossiiskaya Gazeta government daily that it was not the right moment to relocate the embalmed body of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, on display since his death in 1924.

"Of course, a necropolis at the heart of Russia is nonsense. But let others decide whether it should

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be there or not," Kozhin said. "A referendum is the best way to decide. If 80% say Lenin's body should be laid to rest in a cemetery, then the decision could be taken, but not before."

"We are only just moving on from revolution, from perpetual political battles. The country has learned to live a normal life, to work, to get richer," he said. "But raising this sensitive issue would stir a wave of protests, rousing our parents, grandmothers and grandfathers."

Kozhin's comments came ahead of November 7, earlier a national holiday commemorating the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. The holiday was replaced in 2005 by National Unity Day, which is celebrated on November 4.

The reburial of Lenin, whose tomb is revered by Communists, has been the subject of a heated political debate in post-Soviet Russia. Some have argued that Lenin should be laid to rest in a regular cemetery. Others, primarily neo-Communists, have insisted that the mausoleum remain his final resting place.

President Vladimir Putin, unlike his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, has been cautious about the issue, fearing a split in society. During his eight-year reign as president, Putin has reinstated many Soviet symbols, including the Red Star for the military and the Soviet national anthem, albeit with different words.

Kozhin said maintaining the body cost the government "several tens of millions of rubles a year" (hundreds of thousands of dollars), which "is not much at all."

MOSCOW, October 10 (RIA Novosti)