Kremlin opposes Dzerzhinsky statue plan
MOSCOW - The Kremlin opposes a plan to return a statue of Soviet secret police founder Felix Dzerzhinsky to the pedestal it was torn from after the hard-line coup against Mikhail Gorbachev collapsed in 1991, a high-level official in President Vladimir Putin's office said Thursday. The idea of returning the towering statue to Lubyanka Square in front of the offices of Russia's Federal Security Service - the former headquarters of dreaded Soviet KGB - was raised last week by Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who said the monument was an artistic treasure and suggested the good things Dzerzhinsky did outweighed the bad. The statue's removal was a powerful symbol of the triumph of democratic forces over the hard-line communists, and the proposal to return it drew fierce protests from liberal politicians and human rights activists who said it would insult the memory of victims of the repressions of the communist era that claimed tens of millions of lives. Vladislav Surkov, a deputy chief of Putin's administration, said the Kremlin does not support the idea, the Interfax news agency reported. "This problem bears not so much an architectural or ideological character as an ethical one," Surkov told Interfax. He said it would be equally unwise to remove the body of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin's from its place on view in a tomb on Red Square, where it remains as a symbol of seven decades of Soviet rule. Liberals have proposed removing the corpse and burying it, but communists adamantly oppose the idea. "It is necessary to be extremely cautious with symbols of the past," Surkov said. "Today some are calling for the restoration of the monument to Dzerzhinsky, tomorrow others will demand the removal of Lenin's body from the mausoleum. "Both of these would be equally untimely and unacceptable for a meaningful portion of the citizens of our country," he said. "Such actions demand a careful and considered approach. In no case is it permissible to offend the feelings and memories of people." Dzerzhinsky became head of the Cheka secret police shortly after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. He presided over a wave of terror that earned him the nickname "Iron Felix." The organization's name changed several times and it eventually became the KGB. The statue was torn down by pro-democracy demonstrators after the defeat of the hard-line communist coup in August 1991. It is currently in a Moscow sculpture garden alongside other discarded statues of Soviet-era leaders. Putin, who has spoken with pride about his 16-year KGB career, has not commented on the dispute over the statue. He is currently on a working vacation in the Black Sea city of Sochi. A Kremlin spokesman declined to comment on the issue Thursday, and attempts to reach Surkov were unsuccessful. /AP/
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