Officials in Kyrgyzstan have taken down the country’s tallest statue of Vladimir Lenin—and replaced it with a flagpole.

However, City Hall in the southern city of Osh, where the 23-metre high monument of the revolutionary Soviet leader stood for 50 years, moved quickly to counter any idea that Russia could be offended by the action. In a statement, city officials said the figure would be relocated as part of "common practice" pursued in improving the "architectural and aesthetic appearance" of Kyrgyzstan’s second city.

The officials also pointed to examples of Lenin statues that have been taken down in Russia over the years. Local media noted that when a Lenin statue was relocated in Kyrgyz capital city Bishek, it was also replaced with a flagpole.

In Russia, just over a week ago, a brand new statue of another Soviet figurehead, Josef Stalin, was unveiled in Moscow.

Photos in local press on June 8 showed the sculpture of communist leader Lenin lying on its back on the ground in Osh after the lowering of the 7.5-tonne monument done with a crane.

Kyrgyzstan gained its independence when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. Other reminders of the country’s historical links to Russia include its second-tallest mountain, named Lenin Peak.

As with all the Central Asian countries, there are always sensitivities between Bishkek and Moscow over the standing of the Russian language in Kyrgyzstan and there is presently a lot of tension over an ongoing hard crackdown in Russia aimed at Central Asian citizens, largely labour migrants.

The strict measures introduced against Central Asian nationals by Russia over the past year—seen as triggered by the March 2024 terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall concert venue in outer Moscow that claimed more than 140 lives, for which four alleged Tajik Islamist gunmen remain in pre-trial detention—have arrived amid rising xenophobia exhibited by Russians and Russian authorities.

In April, dozens of half-naked Kyrgyz nationals were held in a Moscow bathhouse during a police raid that appeared to also involve vigilantes. Some were allegedly brutally beaten by masked officers, causing fury among Kyrgyz lawmakers in Bishkek, who in parliament talked of “outright fascism” when details of the raid were publicised.

The measures introduced against Central Asian migrants in Russia include the launch of a mobile app tracking device that migrants in Moscow and Moscow Region must have fitted to their phones and the expulsion of tens of thousands of migrant workers.