Putin snubs Gorbachev's funeral, pays tribute to his 'huge impact'
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the funeral of Mikhail Gorbachev on Saturday, citing scheduling conflicts, but he paid tribute to the last Soviet leader Thursday, the Kremlin said.
Vladimir Putin laid a red bouquet at the open coffin of Mikhail Gorbachev on Thursday, but he won’t attend his funeral on Saturday.Putin is seen bowing his head before Gorbachev’s body at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow.In Wednesday’s telegram of condolences released by the Kremlin, Putin praised Gorbachev as a man who left “an huge impact on the course of world history.”
Gorbachev will be buried at Moscow’s historical Novodevichy cemetery next to his wife, Raisa, who died in 1999, after a public farewell ceremony at the Pillar Hall of the House of the Unions — an iconic mansion near the Kremlin that has served as the venue for state funerals since Soviet times. Yeltsin’s farewell ceremony was attended by dozens of foreign guests and former world leaders, including Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
For his part, Gorbachev in recent years had grown increasingly critical of Putin’s crackdowns on civil liberties in Russia. Although the aging statesman did not personally comment on the situation in Ukraine, his foundation called for peace negotiations between the two sides.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Mikhail Gorbachev is a hero in the West for ending the Cold War, but in Russia he is remembered more dimly as the man who let the Soviet Union collapseThere is perhaps no more telling example of how differently Mikhail Gorbachev is viewed in the West and in Russia than his role in a 1998 television commercial for Pizza Hut:
Read more »
Putin pays tribute to Gorbachev but won't attend his funeralMOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday paid tribute to Mikhail Gorbachev but will not attend the late former Soviet leader's funeral, a decision reflecting the Kremlin’s ambivalence about Gorbachev’s legacy.
Read more »
Putin snubs funeral of former Soviet leader Mikhail GorbachevVladimir Putin will not attend the funeral of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Kremlin said Thursday, in a snub of the former Soviet leader with whom the Russian President had a fraught relationship.
Read more »
Putin will miss funeral of former Soviet leader Mikhail GorbachevVladimir Putin will not attend the funeral of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Kremlin said Thursday, in what will be seen as a snub of the former Soviet leader with whom the Russian President had a fraught relationship.
Read more »
Mikhail Gorbachev is a hero in the West for ending the Cold War, but in Russia he is remembered more dimly as the man who let the Soviet Union collapseThere is perhaps no more telling example of how differently Mikhail Gorbachev is viewed in the West and in Russia than his role in a 1998 television commercial for Pizza Hut:
Read more »