Putin claims Communism is similar to Christianity

Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that Communism is similar to Christianity, saying its ideology is based on equality and brotherhood, and even has its own "holy scripture."

In an interview for the documentary "Valaam," Putin acknowledged that priests were killed and churches were destroyed during the Soviet era, but he noted that during that time, "a new religion was being created — communist ideology, which is very similar to Christianity, in fact."

"Freedom, equality, brotherhood, justice — all of this is enshrined in the Holy Scripture, it's all there. And what about the Code of the Builders of communism? This is a sublimation, it's really just a primitive excerpt from the Bible, nothing new was invented," the Russian president said, according to Express.

The Bolsheviks launched its crackdown on religion during the October Revolution of 1917, which led to the formation of the Soviet Union. At the time, Bolshevik revolutionaries, under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, slaughtered Tsar Nicholas II and his family and began the destruction of the church.

During the second revolution, the Bolsheviks established a "dictatorship of the proletariat" by overthrowing a liberal democracy and persecuting and liquidating their opponents, including communist rivals the Mensheviks.

After Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin succeeded him as the leader of the Bolsheviks, ushering in what has been described as the bloodiest period Russia's history.

Putin also compared the Communists' attitude to Lenin to the veneration of saints in Christianity.

"Look, Lenin was put in a mausoleum. How is this different from the relics of saints for Orthodox Christians and just for Christians? When they say that there's no such tradition in Christianity, well, how come, go to Athos and take a look, there are relics of the saints there, and we have holy relics here," he said.

According to Russia Today, the cult of Lenin was part of Soviet ideology and after the Bolshevik leader died, his body was embalmed and put on display in a mausoleum in Red Square in Moscow.

A public debate about the possibility of giving Lenin's remains a proper burial began during the early days of Perestroika, a political movement for Soviet reformation in the 1980s.

A recent poll conducted by the Levada Centre indicated that Russians are still divided on the issue of giving Lenin a proper burial. Forty-one percent favor a formal burial, 41 percent are opposed, and 18 percent are undecided.

Earlier this year, Gennadiy Zyuganov, the head of the Russian Communist Party, said that Putin had promised him that Lenin's body would remain in the mausoleum as long as he is president.

The Russian Orthodox church, which regards Lenin as an apostate and a heretic, has repeatedly contended that the Bolshevik leader should be buried.