In Russia, hundreds of mourners have been paying their last respects to the last Soviet Leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, who died on Tuesday at the age of 91.
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| People stand by the coffin of former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev at the Pillar Hall of the House of the Unions, Moscow. Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP via Belfast Telegraph |
Gorbachev brought the cold war to a peaceful end.
The former president lies in an open casket, with a guard of Honour flanked around him.
The people lay flowers as they pass by. There is a sea of red carnations.
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| Hundreds of people queued to pay their last respects at the coffin of Mikhail Gorbachev during the farewell ceremony. Photo: AP via Belfast Telegraph |
Sombre music is playing inside the columned hall of the House of Unions. An enormous black and white portrait of Mr Gorbachev hangs from balcony.
Mr Gorbachev’s predecessors, Soviet leaders like Lenin, Stalin and Brezhnev, lay in state here too.
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| Former Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev died on Tuesday at the age of 91. Photo: Boris Yurchenko/AP via Belfast Telegraph |
Around the Hall of Unions, in the streets, long lines of Muscovites – young and old – are queuing up to pay their last respects to Mr Gorbachev.
However, according to BBC:
Many Russians blame Mikhail Gorbachev for launching reforms that caused economic chaos and for letting the Soviet Union fall apart.
One man who is not here is Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin’s official explanation: No space in his schedule.
However, this is widely seen as a snub. Mr Putin once called the dissolution of the USSR the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century”.
Mr Gorbachev took power in 1985, introducing bold reforms and opening the USSR to the world.
But he was unable to prevent the collapse of the union in 1991, and many Russians blame him for the years of turmoil that ensued.
Outside Russia, he was widely respected, with the UN Secretary General António Guterres saying he had “changed the course of history”, and US President Joe Biden calling him a “rare leader”.
Grigory Yavlinsky, politician, says: “These people came to Gorbachev to say ‘Thank you Mr Gorbachev. You gave us a chance, but we lost this chance.”
