agence France-Presse on
Ukraine topples its biggest remaining Lenin statue
It
took two days and a giant crane, but Ukraine on Thursday finally
managed to lift its biggest remaining statue of Soviet founder Lenin off
its pedestal and consign it to the dustbins of history.
The 20-meter-tall (65-foot-tall) bronze and granite
monument fell victim to a Ukrainian ban on Soviet symbols that was
imposed in May 2015 as part of the Russian neighbor's drive toward
closer relations with the European Union.
The Lenin who suffered his ignoble fate in the
southeastern city of Zaporizhia weighed 40 tons and was one of about
2,500 similar statues scattered across the country since its Soviet
days.
Most of those have since been toppled, with Ukraine's tallest Lenin in the city of Kharkiv
falling in September 2014, seven months after the ouster the
pro-Russian leadership in Kiev and the country's tilt toward the West.
The Zaporizhia Lenin's removal was livestreamed by major websites when the operation began.
More from GlobalPost: Why Ukrainians still care about Lenin
Around 200 people still mingled on the city's main
square by the time the statue was finally lifted and placed gingerly
besides its pedestal.
The city's authorities have not yet specified what they planned to do with the monument next.
Russia often accuses Ukraine of violating
international law by banning the Communist Party, which it also did
shortly the 2014 pro-EU revolt.
It also denies backing the pro-Moscow insurgency that broke out in eastern Ukraine in April 2014, claiming nearly 9,200 lives.
osh/zak/ric
Copyright 2016 Agence France-Presse
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