Moscow: Olga Ulyanova, a niece of Soviet
founder Vladimir Lenin who wrote several books about her uncle
and family, has died in Moscow. She was 89.
She was the last known living relative of Lenin, who
never had any children, according to the government in the
Ulyanovsk region, which was named after her family.
Ulyanova, a chemist and a writer, died in Moscow on Friday,
the government said. The cause of death was not given.
Her uncle, Vladimir Ulyanov, took Lenin as his
nom-de-guerre in 1901 while in exile near the Siberian river
of Lena.
Sixteen years later, Lenin headed the Bolshevik
revolution.
After he died in 1924, Lenin's embalmed body was placed
in a mausoleum on Red Square, where it is open to the public.
After the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Ulyanova
repeatedly demanded the body remain there.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, March 26, 2011, 00:45