Associated Press “Vladimir Putin accuses Lenin of placing a 'time bomb' under Russia” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/25/vladmir-putin-accuses-lenin-of-placing-a-time-bomb-under-russia
同時に、レーニンの遺体を赤の広場から追い出す考えはないということも表明しているのだった*2。
Putin’s assessment of Lenin’s role in Russian history during Monday’s meeting with pro-Kremlin activists in the southern city of Stavropol was markedly more negative than in the past. He denounced Lenin and his government for brutally executing Russia’s last tsar along with all his family and servants, killing thousands of priests and placing a time bomb under the Russian state by drawing administrative borders along ethnic lines.As an example of Lenin’s destructive legacy, Putin pointed to Donbass, the industrial region in eastern Ukraine where a pro-Russia separatist rebellion flared up weeks after Russia’s March 2014 annexation of Crimea*1. More than 9,000 people have been killed in the conflict since April 2014, and clashes have continued despite a February 2015 peace deal.
He said Lenin’s government had whimsically drawn borders between parts of the USSR, placing Donbass under the Ukrainian jurisdiction in order to increase the percentage of proletariat in a move Putin called “delirious”.
Putin’s criticism of Lenin could be part of his attempts to justify Moscow’s policy in the Ukrainian crisis, but it also may reflect the Kremlin’s concern about possible separatist sentiments in some Russian provinces.
Putin was particularly critical of Lenin’s concept of a federative state with its entities having the right to secede, saying it has heavily contributed to the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. He added that Lenin was wrong in a dispute with Joseph Stalin, who advocated a unitary state model. Putin has in the past denounced Stalin for the purges that killed millions, but noted his role in defeating the Nazis in the second world war.
In Monday’s comments, Putin also criticised the Bolsheviks for making Russia suffer defeat at the hands of Germany in the first world war and ceding large chunks of territory just months before it lost. “We lost to the losing party, a unique case in history,” Putin said.
プーチンの発言は、ウクライナ問題*3に対する露西亜の立場の正当化という文脈でなされたもの。だから、特にレーニンの「連邦国家」構想が批判の対象になっていること、レーニンに反対して「単一国家（unitary state）」を主張したスターリンに対して好意的であることが注目される。プーチンは、中国に連邦制度を導入することを断固として拒否した毛沢東を賞賛するのだろうか。さらに、レーニンというか（ボルシェヴィキによる）露西亜皇室の虐殺や正教会への迫害も批判していることが注目される。
See http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20130916/1379311704
*1:See Shaun Walker and Ian Traynor “Putin confirms Crimea annexation as Ukraine soldier becomes first casualty” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/18/putin-confirms-annexation-crimea-ukrainian-soldier-casualty
*2:See Howard Amos “Lenin's sojourn as curio corpse may be over” http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/13/lenin-corpse-may-be-interred Mentioned in http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20120614/1339676855
*3:See eg. http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20131218/1387324320 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20141112/1415765438 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20150114/1421245848 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20150510/1431190389
