Russian president Vladimir Putin will not attend the funeral of the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, on Saturday because of schedule constraints, the Kremlin said.
In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had paid his respects on Thursday morning by visiting Moscow’s Central Clinical Hospital, where Gorbachev died on Tuesday.
The funeral will take place on Saturday, Russian news agencies reported, citing Gorbachev’s daughter and a spokesperson for his foundation. It is reported that it will take place in the famous Hall of Columns inside Moscow’s House of Unions, the same place where Josef Stalin’s body was put on display following his death in 1953.
Dozens of high-ranking politicians, poets, royals and intellectuals have been buried at the cemetery since it was established in the 16th century – among them Boris Yeltsin, who was Russia’s first president and Gorbachev’s political rival. Nikita Khrushchev is the only other Soviet leader buried there, with most others having been laid to rest beside the walls of the Kremlin on Red Square.
A 2017 poll found that just 15 per cent of Russians held a favourable opinion of the last Soviet leader. And while many in the West gushed over his life’s achievements following the news of his passing, reaction in Russia was more muted.
Following his death, Gorbachev was praised by some world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, for being open to democratic changes. Others criticised efforts by Soviet authorities to crush dissent in their countries under his leadership.
Pro-Kremlin commentators and politicians criticised his legacy on Russia’s state-owned media.
Gorbachev’s passing was the first item on Russia’s flagship Channel One news bulletin, where a five-minute retrospective emphasised his common touch and desire to improve the Soviet economy. It also suggested that he had lacked decisiveness and had trusted the United States too much.
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