Mikhail Gorbachev funeral held in Moscow as Putin too busy to attend
Russians paid their final respects to the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, in a ceremony held in Moscow without much fanfare and with President Vladimir Putin notably absent.
Several thousand mourners queued up to quietly file past Gorbachev’s open casket as it was flanked by honour guards under the Russian flag in the historic Hall of Columns.
The farewell ceremony in Moscow’s House of the Unions was followed by a closed funeral in the Novodevichy cemetery.
Nonetheless, the security presence was heavy in central Moscow, where armed police and armoured vehicles were stationed downtown.
Bearing bouquets of carnations and roses, mourners spoke of “paying tribute” to Gorbachev’s legacy and the “gift of freedom” he gave the country, despite the anger many Russians felt toward him for hastening the end of the Soviet Union.
He remains a hero for many liberal Russians.
“I am here to pay tribute to a great man,” said Galina Ivanchenko, who was carrying a bouquet of carnations. “He took on a burden that none of us could have and he should be remembered for that, despite what everyone says.”
She said she hoped with time more Russians would remember him more fondly in the future.
“Who hasn’t made mistakes?” she asked. “He should be forgiven. He should never have been blamed.”
After several hours the coffin was taken out of the hall in a procession led by Dmitry Muratov, the Nobel Peace prize-winning editor-in-chief of independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which Gorbachev helped found.
The coffin was taken to Moscow’s prestigious Novodevichy cemetery, where it was lowered into the grave to the sounds of a military band playing the Russian national anthem and a gun salute.
Gorbachev was buried next to his wife, Raisa, who died from cancer in 1999.