GROZNY, November 2. /TASS/. Head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov has spoken out in favor of reburying Vladimir Lenin’s body and the remains of Imam Shamil’s associate, Hadji Murad, kept in a St. Petersburg museum.

"It is necessary to lay to rest both Lenin’s body and the body of Imam Shamil’s naib Hadji Murad whose head is still kept in a St. Petersburg museum," Kadyrov wrote in his Telegram channel.

"Of course, the issue of reburying Lenin should be resolved by Russian President Vladimir Putin," the Chechen leader stressed. "However, I personally am convinced that we ought to stop staring at Lenin’s corpse. It is high time to bury the leader of the revolution. That would be both wise and humane." He noted that there is an entire research institute working on preserving Lenin’s body, and that "it is guarded around the clock."

According to Kadyrov, "it is wrong to have a coffin with a dead man in it at the very heart of Russia, on Red Square."

On Wednesday, Speaker of Russia’s Federation Council (upper house of parliament), Valentina Matviyenko, said that Lenin’s reburial would take place once a flexible, conflict-free consensus comes about. The speaker noted that there is a whole generation, who feels that Lenin’s name holds great meaning. These people have the right to demand respect for their convictions and their ideals, she emphasized.

In the spring of 2017, lawmakers from the United Russia and the Liberal Democratic Party factions submitted a bill to Russia’s State Duma (lower house of parliament) on reburying Lenin’s body. The explanatory note to the bill says that the issue had been raised in Russian society from time to time.

Hadji Murad (1816-1852) was a prominent Avar leader and military commander and naib (assistant to a superior or a clergyman) to Imam Shamil, a political and religious leader of the North Caucasus Muslims. After Hadji Murad’s death, his head was cut off and sent to St. Petersburg, where it was kept in the Kirov Military Medical Academy and was later transferred to the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography.