Unclear whether it's an April Fools' or not. From AFP (more pictures here):
Also in Russia today, the VTsIOM polling agency did a joke poll of Russians for April Fools' Day. They told people Moscow had recently signed an agreement to establish diplomatic relations with Atlantis.
Forty percent of Russians realized it was a joke, but 21 percent said they hadn't heard about the country's Atlantis policy, but approve of it.
Twenty-eight percent said they hadn't heard about the policy but didn't approve of it. Nine percent said they had heard about relations with Atlantis and approved of them.
Five percent said they had also heard about the contacts with Atlantis, but didn't approve of them.
-- Robert Coalson/Luke Allnutt
SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia, April 1, 2009 (AFP) -- Vandals blew a gaping hole in the rear end of a statue of Communist leader Vladimir Lenin on Wednesday, but Russian officials were not amused by the "monstrous" act of vandalism.
The April Fools Day blast damaged one of the last Soviet-era monuments to Lenin still standing in Russia's former imperial capital of Saint Petersburg, allowing daylight to shine through a huge hole in Lenin's hindquarters.
The culture committee of the Saint Petersburg city government strongly condemned the blast, which took place outside the Finland Station where Lenin famously returned from exile in 1917 before leading the Bolshevik Revolution.
The April Fools Day blast damaged one of the last Soviet-era monuments to Lenin still standing in Russia's former imperial capital of Saint Petersburg, allowing daylight to shine through a huge hole in Lenin's hindquarters.
The culture committee of the Saint Petersburg city government strongly condemned the blast, which took place outside the Finland Station where Lenin famously returned from exile in 1917 before leading the Bolshevik Revolution.
Also in Russia today, the VTsIOM polling agency did a joke poll of Russians for April Fools' Day. They told people Moscow had recently signed an agreement to establish diplomatic relations with Atlantis.
Forty percent of Russians realized it was a joke, but 21 percent said they hadn't heard about the country's Atlantis policy, but approve of it.
Twenty-eight percent said they hadn't heard about the policy but didn't approve of it. Nine percent said they had heard about relations with Atlantis and approved of them.
Five percent said they had also heard about the contacts with Atlantis, but didn't approve of them.
-- Robert Coalson/Luke Allnutt