Putin will not attend Gorbachev's funeral on Saturday: Kremlin
Premium- Kremlin said that President Putin has paid tribute to the Soviet leader today.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend Saturday’s funeral for the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Kremlin announced on Thursday adding that he had paid tribute to the former President earlier today. Kremlin further clarified that President will not be able to attend the event due to schedule constraints.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Putin on Thursday visited and laid a wreath at Moscow's Central Clinical Hospital, where Gorbachev died on Tuesday, to pay his respects to the Soviet leader.
"Unfortunately, the president's work schedule will not allow him to do this on Sept. 3, so he decided to do it today," Peskov said.
Elaborating on preparations for Gorbachev's funeral, the spokesman said the funeral would have "elements" of a state funeral, including a guard of honour. He added that the state was helping with the organisation.
Saturday's funeral will be held in the famous Hall of Columns inside Moscow's House of Unions, agencies reported, the same place where Josef Stalin's body was put on display following his death in 1953. The service will be open to the public and Gorbachev will then be buried at Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery.
Gorbachev's relationship with Putin was complicated
Gorbachev, whom liberals regard as a monumental leader, had a complicated relationship with Putin.
Gorbachev, who was more about negotiations and less about throwing missiles, had criticised the Russian President for controversially invading Ukraine. In a statement earlier this year said, “There is nothing more precious in the world than human lives. Negotiations and dialogue on the basis of mutual respect and recognition of interests are the only possible way to resolve the most acute contradictions and problems."
Putin, on his part, has been harshly critical about the fall of the Soviet Union that Gorbachev oversaw.
“First and foremost it is worth acknowledging that the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century," Putin famously said in 2005. “As for the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and countrymen found themselves beyond the fringes of Russian territory.
Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader who was also behind the end of the Cold War without any bloodshed died on Tuesday at the age of 91. However, the leader was unable to prevent the fall of the Soviet Union.
(With inputs from agencies)
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