Thousands of people flock to the funeral chapel of the last Soviet leader
A few minutes ago, the funeral chapel was opened to make way for those who wish to pay tribute and bid farewell to Mikhail Gorbachev, the first and last president of the Soviet Union who died on Tuesday at the age of 91. From the early morning hours of a cool day, though with clear skies, thousands of Muscovites crowded next to the House of Unions, in whose Hall of Columns, the coffin containing the body of the inspirer of “perestroika”, the reform program that the USSR democratized a bit and eventually led to its disintegration.
The whole area around the House of Trade Unions, the Bolshoi Theater and the Duma building has been cordoned off by the police. Several queues have formed in some adjacent streets to access the funeral chapel and it is mandatory to go through the metal detectors placed by the officers. Once inside, the assistants pass in front of the coffin, at a distance of about four meters, and place flowers on a shelf installed lengthwise.
The funeral is scheduled to take place around 2pm (one hour less in Spain) at Novodievichy’s Moscow cemetery, next to where his wife Raísa, who died in 1999, is buried. Vladimir Putin, these funerals will have no state significance. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov warned this week, but assured that “some elements of a state ceremony” will have the funeral. He specifically pointed to the presence of the President’s Guard of Honor, two of whom now appear on either side of the coffin containing Gorbachev’s remains.
Peskov also spoke of some “help” from the state to the family of the deceased to organize the funeral. And that’s where all the state character of the event ends. In fact, even Putin will not appear at the funeral today. “For agenda reasons,” said his spokesman. The Russian president confined himself to the morgue of the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow until Thursday morning to lay a bunch of flowers next to the coffin of the late Soviet leader.
Except for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, no other Western leader will come to Moscow today to say goodbye to Gorbachev. After the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces began on February 24, flights between Russia and most western countries were suspended, greatly complicating the journey to the Russian capital.
Gorbachev’s name will go down in history as the man who tried to reform the communist system, burned himself politically and led his country to the brink of disappearance by breaking up into 15 states. Many Western leaders and public figures today have emphasized Gorbachev’s role in the peaceful end of the Cold War and his commitment to humanist ideals. In Russia, however, society is divided over his legacy as many consider him a “weak” leader and some even label him a “traitor” for witnessing the fall of communism, the disintegration of the USSR and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. , leading to Moscow’s loss of influence over Eastern European countries.
Source: La Verdad

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