The stunt, filmed on Monday and posted on the Internet, was
cut short after two men detained the artists, who had passed
through barriers cordoning off the red granite mausoleum where
Bolshevik revolutionary leader lies embalmed.
The video showed them taking water out of a church on Jan. 19, a
day when most Russian Orthodox faithful believe all water is
holy, before pouring it on the walls and closed doors of the
mausoleum.
(http://grani.ru/Politics/Russia/activism/m.237023.html)
Police monitoring website OVDinfo said the two artists, members
of the protest movement "Blue Rider", had been charged with
hooliganism and would be kept under arrest for 10 days.
Activists from the group told Russian online news outlet
Grani.ru that the stunt entitled "The exorcism: desecration of
the mausoleum" had meant to symbolize an attempt to rid Russia
from its Soviet past, which was again beginning to assert
itself.
Lenin is still revered by many as the founder of the Soviet
Union, and President Vladimir Putin still touts the former
superpower's achievements as a source of pride for Russians.
(Reporting by Thomas Grove; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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