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Criminal case opened into Lenin statue blast in St. Petersburg

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Investigators in St. Petersburg opened a criminal case on Wednesday into the explosion that ripped a hole in a Vladimir Lenin statue in Russia's second city, police said.
ST. PETERSBURG, April 1 (RIA Novosti) - Investigators in St. Petersburg opened a criminal case on Wednesday into the explosion that ripped a hole in a Vladimir Lenin statue in Russia's second city, police said.

"A case has been opened regarding Part 2 Article 167 of Russia's Criminal Code [deliberately destroying or damaging property through publicly dangerous means]," a police spokesman said. If the vandals are found, they face up to five years in prison.

The statue of Lenin, near St. Petersburg's Finlyandsky railway station, was badly damaged in the explosion earlier Wednesday, and the city administration said there was a danger that it would collapse if emergency repair work was not carried out.

"Experts have come to the conclusion that there is a threat of collapse, therefore the monument needs to be dismantled. The work will be carried out tonight. The damaged statue will be taken to professional restorers for a thorough examination and to carry out the restoration work. Initial estimates put the cost of the work at 6-8 million rubles [$17,300-$23,500]," the administration said in a statement released Wednesday.

The bronze monument to Lenin was unveiled on November 7, 1926, on the spot where the communist leader made a famous speech after returning from exile in 1917 just before the Russian Revolution. The statue was later moved closer to the Neva River.

Residents protected the 10-meter-tall bronze statue from artillery fire during World War II and it is one of the few remaining Soviet-era Lenin monuments to have survived the political changes in St. Petersburg.

The Communist Party of Russia has expressed its outrage at the explosion, describing it as "a politically charged act of vandalism."

The Communists also proposed on Wednesday protecting all Lenin-related sites in the region, including the cruiser Aurora, a symbol of the Bolshevik Revolution moored in the city.

About 20 elderly communists gathered on the square near the St. Petersburg administration building, Smolny, to hold a spontaneous rally. They carried Soviet flags and posters calling for an end to vandalism.

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