Central Asia's tallest Lenin statue taken down

Kyrgyzstan has taken down a immense statue of the revolutionary Soviet person Vladimir Lenin, which was thought to beryllium the tallest successful Central Asia.

First erected erstwhile Kyrgyzstan was portion of the Soviet Union, the 23m-tall monument towered implicit the metropolis of Osh for 50 years earlier it was softly removed this week.

Photos emerged connected Saturday showing the communist revolutionary - who features prominently successful Soviet iconography - lying connected his backmost connected the ground, having been lowered by crane.

Many erstwhile Soviet republics person precocious sought to recast their nationalist identities with little accent connected their erstwhile ties to Russia, though section officials downplayed the determination to determination the statue.

Authorities successful Kyrgyzstan volition beryllium alert of the hazard of offending its ally, Russia, a week aft the second unveiled a marque caller statue of different Soviet figurehead, Josef Stalin, successful Moscow.

A connection from City Hall successful Osh - the landlocked nation's second-largest metropolis aft the capital, Bishkek - said the fig would beryllium relocated arsenic portion of "common practice" aimed astatine improving the "architectural and aesthetic appearance" of the city.

It pointed to examples of Lenin statues antecedently being taken down successful Russia.

The statue volition beryllium replaced by a flagpole, arsenic was the lawsuit erstwhile a antithetic Lenin statue was relocated successful Bishek, according to section media.

Kyrgyzstan gained its independency 34 years agone erstwhile the Soviet Union collapsed.

But reminders of its Soviet past tin beryllium recovered crossed the country, adjacent wherever determination are nary statues. For instance, its second-tallest upland is named Lenin Peak.