Kremlin opposes returning statue of secret police head

MOSCOW -- The Kremlin opposes a plan to return a statue of Soviet secret police founder Felix Dzerzhinsky to the pedestal it was torn from during the collapse of the Soviet Union, an official said Thursday.

Moscow's mayor proposed returning the towering statue to Lubyanka Square in front of the offices of Russia's Federal Security Service, the successor to the dreaded KGB, last week. He said the monument was an artistic treasure and suggested the good things Dzerzhinsky did outweighed the bad.

Vladislav Surkov, a deputy chief of President Vladimir Putin's administration, said the Kremlin does not support the idea, the Interfax news agency reported.

"It is necessary to be extremely cautious with symbols of the past," Surkov told Interfax.

The statue's removal came to symbolize the triumph of democratic forces over the hard-line communists after the 1991 coup against Mikhail Gorbachev failed. The proposal to return it drew fierce protests from liberal politicians and human rights activists who said it would insult the memory of victims of the communist era repressions that claimed tens of millions of lives.

Surkov said it would be equally unwise to remove the embalmed body of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin from its place on view in a tomb on Red Square. Liberals have proposed removing the corpse and burying it, but communists adamantly oppose the idea.

"Both of these would be equally untimely and unacceptable for a meaningful portion of the citizens of our country," he said. "Such actions demand a careful and considered approach. In no case is it permissible to offend the feelings and memories of people."

Cheka's mark

Dzerzhinsky became head of the Cheka secret police under Lenin shortly after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. He presided over a wave of terror that earned him the nickname "Iron Felix." The organization's name changed several times and it eventually became the KGB.

The statue now stands in a Moscow sculpture garden alongside other discarded statues of Soviet-era leaders.

On Friday, the mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, called the 14-ton bronze monument a "flawless" work of art. He said Dzerzhinsky must be given credit for taking care of homeless children and helping rebuild the national economy.

Putin, who has spoken with pride about his 16-year KGB career, has not commented on the dispute over the statue. He is on a working vacation in the Black Sea city of Sochi.