MINSK -- A group of Belarusian public activists in Minsk say they have petitioned the presidential administration to dismantle hundreds of Soviet-era monuments and replace them with others dedicated to famous figures in Belarusian history.
"Whatever we can say about today's regime in Belarus, as a historian and political scientist I think that the regime is not based on the principles of Stalinism and Leninism," Ihar Lyalkou, who organized an initiative to remove Belarusian monuments to Vladimir Lenin, Feliks Dzerzhinsky, Mikahil Kalinin, and many other Soviet heroes, told RFE/RL's Belarus Service.
According to Lyalkou and his associates, the dismantled monuments could be collected in an open-air museum around the so-called Stalin Line memorial near Minsk, making them available for viewing.
"Whatever we can say about today's regime in Belarus, as a historian and political scientist I think that the regime is not based on the principles of Stalinism and Leninism," Ihar Lyalkou, who organized an initiative to remove Belarusian monuments to Vladimir Lenin, Feliks Dzerzhinsky, Mikahil Kalinin, and many other Soviet heroes, told RFE/RL's Belarus Service.
According to Lyalkou and his associates, the dismantled monuments could be collected in an open-air museum around the so-called Stalin Line memorial near Minsk, making them available for viewing.