The graves behind Lenin's Mausoleum and the urns in the Kremlin wall include the remains of Soviet leaders including Joseph Stalin and Leonid Brezhnev, as well as those of several foreign Communist leaders.
Speaking on Red Square after laying flowers and wreaths at the Mausoleum of Vladimir Lenin to mark the 138th anniversary of the Bolshevik leader's birth, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov said: "Here they are entertaining plans to ruin Red Square. I want to remind them that nothing will come of this."
"Thirty-two Soviet marshals, including [WWII hero Georgy] Zhukov, prominent scientists such as [chief Soviet rocket designer Sergei] Korolyov, [mathematician Mstislav] Keldysh, and [nuclear physicist Igor] Kurchatov are buried here."
Since the demise of the Soviet Union, authorities in Russia have planned to remove Lenin's embalmed body from Red Square to give it a standard burial in a cemetery, as well as to replace the other graves. However this remains a sensitive issue in the country, where many retain fond memories of the Soviet Union.
Soviet governments buried Communist leaders and prominent figures of science and culture on Moscow's central square between 1925 and 1984.
Urns with ashes of Soviet-era dignitaries were also placed in the wall. Several cosmonauts, including the world's first man in space, Yury Gagarin, were buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. The ashes of American journalist John Reed, the author of a renowned first-hand account of the Bolshevik Revolution, are also kept there.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Zyuganov congratulated them on Lenin's birthday, saying "it is not merely his birthday, but the birthday of a new era."
Zyuganov ran for president in March, and garnered 17.72% of votes.
