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Moscow lawmakers to consider restoring 'Iron Felix' statue in September

The monument to Dzerzhinsky, founder of the state security service Cheka, predecessor of the KGB, was toppled during Moscow events as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 taken to a city sculpture park

A statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Soviet secret police, stands in the Muzeon Park, in Moscow AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko

A statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Soviet secret police, stands in the Muzeon Park, in Moscow

© AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko

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Russian communists collect signatures for 'Iron Felix' statue referendum

MOSCOW, July 21. /TASS/. The restoration of the famous statue of Bolshevik revolutionary "Iron" Felix Dzerzhinsky to its former site in central Moscow will be considered by the capital’s lawmakers in September, the speaker of the Moscow legislature said on Tuesday.

He said the issue would be included in the agenda of the next meeting of the Moscow City Duma commission for monumental art.

Activists of the Communist Party of Russia announced on Monday that they had collected over 150,000 signatures of Muscovites in favor of the idea to hold a referendum on the statue’s restoration.

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The monument to Dzerzhinsky — founder of the state security service Cheka, predecessor of the KGB — was toppled during Moscow events as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and taken to a city sculpture park from its location outside KGB headquarters on Lubyanka Square.

The statue — to be found now at Muzeon sculpture park — was created by sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich and was unveiled in 1958 in front of the KGB headquarters on what was then called Dzerzhinsky Square.

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Communist Party

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