Funerals and burials of the former Soviet president can be exempted from the state nature
After the current Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has devoted more than 20 years in power to reiterating that the breakup of the USSR was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century” and that the architect of such As the last Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev, who died on Tuesday, it was only natural that within Russia there was indifference towards the late statesman.
The case has come to the point where it is not yet clear exactly when and how the funerals will take place and where the funeral chapel will be located. The family of the last great Soviet leader is waiting to find out whether the Kremlin will be involved in the funeral or whether they will have to organize it themselves. Two anonymous sources close to the Russian presidency told Russia’s Interfax agency on Wednesday that “there are no plans to give Gorbachev’s funeral a state character”.
Shortly afterwards, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov stated regarding the funeral: “I can’t say for sure yet. This topic will be discussed today. A decision will be made. So far no decisions have been made. We don’t know yet how it will all end. The procedure will depend on the wishes of relatives and next of kin. No information yet.”
However, according to ‘Interfax’, Irina, the daughter of the former Soviet president, assured that the funeral will take place on Saturday at the Moscow Novodievichy cemetery, where his wife Raísa is already buried. The same source reveals that the funeral chapel could be installed in the Hall of Columns of the House of Trade Unions, on Okhotny Riyadh Street, next to the building of the State Duma (Lower House of the Russian Parliament). In the same place, the bodies of communist leaders were exhibited, for example that of Iósif Stalin, after his death in 1953.
But for many it is hard to imagine Putin taking pride of place at the funeral of someone he always considered a failure as a politician and who accused him of being an autocrat. Of course, the top Russian leader expressed his condolences to the family, writing on the Kremlin’s website that Gorbachev was “a politician and a statesman who had a profound influence on the course of world history. He led our country through a period of complex and dramatic changes, with far-reaching challenges to social, economic and foreign policy.” In his words, “he understood deeply that reforms were needed and sought to provide his own solutions to pressing problems.”
Peskov was more direct and less condescending this Wednesday. He said he wanted to “sincerely believe that the Cold War would end and that it would usher in a period of eternal romance between a new Soviet Union and the world, the West.”
In his opinion, “this romance turned out to be wrong. There was no romantic period, it didn’t turn into a 100-year honeymoon, and it showed the bloodthirsty nature of our adversaries. It’s been good that we realized and understood this in time.”
The official political scientist, Sergey Markov, pointed out that “we are all surprised that the politicians responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union died after the start of the special military operation in Ukraine. Kravchuk, Shushkevich and now Gorbachev. Markov believes the neighboring country’s invasion “ends the era of the post-Soviet period of Russian history. All those politicians are responsible for the tragedy of the collapse, and now the special military operation is reuniting Russia.”
In the news of the official Russian television channels, the news of Gorbachev’s death barely appeared in third or fourth place. In the broadcast at 3 p.m. on ‘Rossiya-24’, 35 minutes after the start of the program, information about the last Soviet president appeared.
Source: La Verdad
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