Putin blasts Lenin for 'time bomb' under the state

Russian president Vladimir Putin has criticised Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin for placing a "time bomb" under the state, and denounced brutal repressions by the Bolshevik government. The harsh criticism of Lenin, who is still revered by communists and many others in Russia, is unusual for Mr Putin, who in the past carefully weighed his comments about the nation's history to avoid alienating some voters. Mr Putin's assessment of Lenin's role in Russian history during a 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 murdering 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, Mr Putin pointed at Donbass, the industrial region in eastern Ukraine where a pro-Russia separatist rebellion flared up weeks after Russia's March 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. More than 9,000 people have been killed in the conflict and clashes have continued despite a February 2015 peace...

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