Russians say farewell to Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet Union’s final leader
- Gorbachev, who died on Tuesday aged 91, was granted a public send-off but not a funeral with state honours or President Putin in attendance
- People were able to view his coffin in the Hall of Columns, near the Kremlin in Moscow, where previous Soviet leaders have been mourned
Muscovites lined up near the Kremlin on Saturday to pay their respects to Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader who was widely admired in the West for his reforms and who lived long enough to see Russia’s leadership roll back much of that change.
Gorbachev, who died on Tuesday aged 91, was set to be buried without state honours or President Vladimir Putin in attendance.
He was, however, granted a public send-off, with authorities allowing Russians to view his coffin in the imposing Hall of Columns, within sight of the Kremlin, where previous Soviet leaders have been mourned.
Pallbearers hoisted Gorbachev’s wooden coffin, covered in a tricolour Russian flag, and placed it in the centre of hall, where a soft recording of melancholic music from the film “Schindler’s List” played in the background.
It was little surprise that Putin, a long-time KGB intelligence officer who has called the Soviet Union’s collapse a “geopolitical catastrophe”, denied Gorbachev full state honours and said his schedule did not allow him to attend the funeral.