MOSCOW. July 22 (Interfax) - Activists from the movement Vozvrashcheniye are calling for a prompt closing of the Lenin Mausoleum, which is located in Moscow's Red Square, and the renaming of the Moscow metro station Voikovskaya, which was named after Pyotr Voikov, one of the men who killed Russia's last Emperor Nicholas II and his family.

"Let's not deceive ourselves with the illusions that what is presently in the Mausoleum is Lenin's body. What is in the Mausoleum is 10% of what was once the body of Vladimir Ilyich (Lenin)," said Vladimir Medinsky, a member of the movement and a State Duma deputy.

"The preservation at the expense of the state of some archaeological artifact is immoral and pointless from the point of view of the effectiveness of the budget expenses, and is also harmful from the point of view of ideology and cruel and unfair to Lenin's relatives and loved ones," said Medinsky.

Medinsky said he believes there is a reason why the authorities do not want to bury Lenin's body and "touch on this sensitive issue, hoping it will die itself with time." "Communist parties are becoming younger, and not only in Russia, but all over the world. We should not think that the problem will be resolved by itself ten years down the road. I personally believe that there is no logical explanation why Lenin's body has not been buried yet. Probably there is a need to choose the right historical moment for that," said Medinsky.

Vladimir Solovyov, the head of the publishing council of the Moscow patriarchate, who is also a member of Vozvrashcheniye, agrees with him. "I am against the mausoleum in Red Square. It is strange that this mausoleum is still there," he said.

Vladimir Lavrov, deputy director of the Russian History Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said the Institute issued recommendations back in 2006, in which it recommended that the mausoleum be closed and the remains of Lenin, Stalin, and other political figures responsible for mass repression be given to their relatives.

In addition, Lavrov proposed to return the monument to Minin and Pozharsky to its historical place in the center of the red Square and to place golden two-headed eagles back on the Kremlin towers. "I am confident that it will happen," said the historian.

Vozvrashcheniye leader Yury Bondarenko said he does not understand why the Moscow administration has refused to rename the metro station Voikovskaya, which was named after a man named Pyotr Voikov, who, according to Bondarenko, personally took part in the killing of Russia's last Emperor Nicholas II and his family.

"It is not clear why Moscow should be left full of odious figures," said Bondarenko.