A new square in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad is to be named after Vladimir Lenin, the Itar-Tass news agency reports. The square in the capital, Kaliningrad, is also set to feature a restored statue of the revolutionary leader. Mayor Yuri Savenko said that opinion polls suggested 18% of the city's population respected Lenin and "we have no right to ignore that". Most Lenin landmarks were renamed after the USSR collapsed in 1991.

"A symbol of the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War will appear in the renovated Pobeda [Victory] Square," Mr Savenko said, the official news agency reported.

The statue could not be returned to its former place in the city's Victory Square because of architectural considerations following a renovation of the square, he added.