Lenin is alive forever - terrorist attacks at the Mausoleum

Perhaps many people do not know that an attempt on Lenin’s life occurred not only while he was alive. There were people who tried to settle scores with him even after his death.

Lenin’s Mausoleum on Red Square in Moscow has, since 1924, been not only the main state memorial site of the USSR, but also the target of several attacks and acts of vandalism. The most serious of these were two explosions in 1967 and 1973, which can quite justifiably be called terrorist acts. These were not, however, the only cases.

The remaining incidents were mostly individual acts of vandalism or the actions of mentally ill people. Lenin’s mummified body was given additional protection after the 1960 incident, and after 1973 a special bulletproof glass was installed to protect the leader’s mortal remains from possible further damage.

19 March 1934 — gunshots
The first documented attack took place ten years after Lenin’s death.
46-year-old Mitrofan Nikitin (a desperate worker from a state farm in the Moscow region) approached the sarcophagus, pulled out a Nagant revolver and fired twice at Lenin’s body. The lone avenger turned out to be such a poor shot that even at close range he missed. When the guards rushed toward him, Nikitin committed suicide by shooting himself in the heart. A farewell note was found on him in which he complained about famine and corruption. The body of the leader of the world revolution remained untouched and undamaged.

Vandalism of the 1950s–1960s
After Stalin’s death and the beginning of Khrushchev’s “Thaw,” attacks became more frequent:

• In November 1957 a Muscovite named Romanov tried to pour ink over the sarcophagi.
• On 20 March 1959 an unknown man cracked the glass with a hammer.
• On 14 July 1960 a resident of Kyrgyzstan (or Uzbekistan), Kurmanat Minibaev, jumped onto the barrier and smashed the glass with his foot. Shards fell onto Lenin’s face and hands, so the body had to be thoroughly restored in order to return it to exhibit condition. The Mausoleum was closed for a time and stronger glass was installed.
• In 1962 a pensioner named Lyutikov from Pavlovsky Posad threw a stone, but once again failed to distinguish himself with accuracy. What became of him personally is unknown.
• In 1966 a pensioner from Krasnodar, Vatintsev, prepared more seriously for his visit and threw a sledgehammer, yet, as far as is known, his attempted attack produced no result. At least no one talks about the consequences, the incident is barely mentioned, and the further fate of the sledgehammer-thrower remains unknown.

In these cases the attackers were usually detained and sent for compulsory psychiatric treatment. The corpse itself suffered only in the 1960 incident.

September 1967 — the first explosion
The first real terrorist act took place at the entrance. A resident of Kaunas named Krysanov (in some sources Krysenkov) detonated a homemade explosive device (according to other accounts he arrived wearing a suicide belt).
Several people were killed. The exact number was never publicly specified; only the information survives that an Italian tourist was also injured.
After this incident work began on a new bulletproof glass sarcophagus, which was installed in 1973.

The most serious terrorist act with casualties,
but Lenin lives forever
On 1 September 1973 Nikolai Nikolaevich Savrasov (born 1939, from Horlivka in Donetsk Oblast) mixed in with a group of children and was taken for a teacher. He approached the sarcophagus and activated the explosive device hidden under his clothes. The terrorist himself and a married couple from Astrakhan were killed (3 people in total), and 16 people were seriously injured, including four children. The new bulletproof glass protected the leader’s body. The Soviet authorities concealed this incident, as they had all the previous ones.

After the collapse of the USSR

After 1991 the attacks became symbolic rather than lethal:

• In 2010 a roll of toilet paper was thrown in and slogans demanding Lenin’s burial were chanted.
• In January 2015 the artists Oleg Basov and Yevgeny Avilov poured holy water on the wall of the Mausoleum, shouting “Rise up and leave!” Lenin did not obey; there is no information about the later fate of the artists themselves.
• In July 2023 a resident of Chita, Konstantin Stachukov, threw a Molotov cocktail at the fence. Where he hit, or whether he hit at all, is unknown, as is his subsequent fate.

Consequences
After the 1960 incident security was tightened and stronger glass was fitted.
After the explosions of 1967 and 1973 a bulletproof glass sarcophagus was installed, which has protected the body ever since. The Mausoleum is periodically closed for security checks, and the body is regularly treated by a special laboratory using even ancient Egyptian methods of mummifying remains.
Debates about burying Lenin in a grave in accordance with Orthodox Church tradition continue to this day, yet the body still remains in the Mausoleum as an exhibit that interested visitors may view. A queue still forms at the Mausoleum.