Russia: UFC fighter Jeff Monson joins Communist Party to mark Lenin's birthday

The head of the Russian Communist Party Gennady Zyuganov walked alongside former US UFC fighter Jeff Monson and 17-year-old Russian powerlifter Maryana Naumova, and other Communist Party supporters, to Lenin’s Mausoleum on Moscow's Red Square, to mark the anniversary of the Bolshevik leader’s birthday on Friday.
During the ceremony, members of the Communist Party, soldiers and young Communist Pioneers turned out to pay their respects and lay flowers. Monson, wearing a T-shirt with 'USSR' emblazoned on it, said “we are here to celebrate Vladimir Lenin, though his body passed away but his spirit can live on."
As for Zyuganov, he stated that “Lenin was the first person in history who offered to build a kingdom of justice, not in heaven, but on earth." He said that “labour, friendship and respect for children, women and old people determined the whole policy of the country" under Lenin. Zyuganov then awarded Naumova with the Medal of Peoples' Friendship for her humanitarian work for children in east Ukraine during the conflict there.
Lenin was born on April 22, 1870 in the city of Simbirsk, later renamed Ulyanovsk in honour of Lenin’s original family name. After many years abroad he returned to Russia to lead the Bolshevik Revolution. He died at his dacha in Gorki on January 21, 1924.