The Russian authorities spend about 173,000 euros (about 195,000 dollars) annually to keep the mummy of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) viewable. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the debate opened several times over what to do with his body.

Some opposition voices recently proposed the idea of ​​selling this mummy and using its price to pay the bill to deal with the emerging epidemic of the Corona virus.

To date, the number of new infections in the Coronavirus in Russia has exceeded 545,000, and 7280 deaths, according to the WorldMeter website.

The Spanish newspaper El Mundo wondered if there was no way to bury Lenin, what about selling it? She noted that this idea was put on the table by Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (ultra-nationalist), which is the third most important formation in the Russian parliament.

And despite calls by Zhirinovsky to close the Lenin Mausoleum, about 450,000 people flock every year to see the body of the Bolshevik leader who died in 1924 at his residence in Gorky, outside the capital, Moscow.

The idea of ​​making financial use of Lenin's mummy came up when French digital advisor Stephan Distangan proposed the sale of the Mona Lisa, valued at approximately 50 billion euros (about 56.3 billion dollars), aimed at bridging the financial gap caused by the crisis caused by the Corona virus.

Inspired by the French proposal, Gerinovsky said, "Here we can sell Lenin's mummy ... There are buyers: China, Vietnam, or any other communist country. Lenin is doing well, it was embalmed only 96 years ago ... Thanks to the sale of the mummy, a lot of money can come in." To the state budget. "

Many books are still published on Lenin, and his statue is of interest to many in some Asian countries. According to the newspaper, Vietnam last year contacted experts who were concerned with the maintenance of Lenin's mummy and asked them to participate in the care of the body of Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh, who was embalmed in 1969 with Soviet assistance.

mummification

It is noteworthy that several countries in the world - including China, North Korea and Vietnam - embalmed its founding leaders thanks to the laboratory method used by the Soviet Union to mummify the body of Lenin.

According to the Spanish newspaper, news is not currently being promoted of potential buyers who can help anti-Communist Russians get rid of the Bolshevik aura that is still emanating from the Red Square.

Yuri Izyumov, a veteran Russian journalist and member of the Lenin Mausoleum fund, opposes the idea of ​​getting rid of Lenin's mummy, and says the Bolshevik leader "was a genius who changed the course of world history."

Also, Russian President Vladimir Putin opposes the idea of ​​getting rid of the mummy, because many people "their experiences are still linked - in one way or another - to the achievements of the Soviet period."

According to a poll published in 2017 regarding the centenary of the Bolshevik revolution, two-thirds of Russians believed it was time to bury Lenin's body. The newspaper pointed out that his brain will not be hidden because it was removed and divided into 300 slides for study by researchers in search of determining the "origin of his genius."

The Communists believe that Lenin is still more important than ever, and they consider that he may be at least an inspiration in dealing with the crisis caused by the outbreak of the Coronavirus.

"The term mobilization is a word that all Russians know well after nearly a century of Soviet propaganda ... It is an era that glorifies the tremendous response to industrial and security challenges," Russian journalist Anna Nemtsova wrote.

Last March, a delegation of the Russian Communist Party decided to violate the quarantine rules that were in effect in the capital, Moscow, in order to go to the Lenin Mausoleum in the Red Square to commemorate the 150th birthday of the Bolshevik leader. "To end the current crisis and defeat the Corona virus, let us learn from Lenin's advice, and everything will be OK," said Communist Party leader Gennady Zoganov.

A picture lost its glory

The Spanish newspaper stated that Lenin's image in the minds of his fellow citizens lost much of its reputation, after the archives of the Bolshevik era were opened in the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, and it became known that he had a role in the killing, torture or exile of hundreds of thousands of people.

But supporters of the late leader argue that he knew how to deal with epidemics such as cholera that struck the country once the Bolsheviks came to power in 1917. But historian Boris Egorov says that the so-called Spanish flu caused the death of 3% of the population of the Soviet Union between 1918 and 1919.