Lenin statue in western Russia vandalized with orange paint

KALININGRAD, November 6 (RIA Novosti) - A monument to Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin has been daubed with orange paint in the Russian Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, a spokesman for the city's administration told RIA Novosti on Friday.

"It [the act of vandalism] was discovered this morning. Police are already investigating it," the official said.

He said three teams of street cleaners were immediately called to remove the paint from the monument. It took them several hours and more than 60 liters of acetone and other solvents to clean the statue.

The local administration put the cost of cleaning up the damage at 20,000 rubles ($700).

The local Communist Party branch said the statue was damaged to prevent them from holding a rally to mark the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution on November 7.

This is the second time this year the statue in Kaliningrad has been defaced. On May 5 the monument was splattered with black paint. The vandals, who have not been found, wrote "Remember the victims of the Red Terror" near the statue.

In April, another monument to Lenin, located near St. Petersburg's Finlyandsky Station, was badly damaged in an explosion. Authorities subsequently ordered the dismantling of the monument for restoration work expected to cost up to 8 million rubles ($236,000).