Putin to miss Gorbachev’s funeral

GBNEWS24DESK//

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the funeral of the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev due to scheduling issues, his spokesman said yesterday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin had paid his last respects to Gorbachev at the hospital where he died on Tuesday, aged 91.

Gorbachev’s funeral ceremony will be held tomorrow in the Moscow Hall of Columns, historically used for funeral services of high officials, including Joseph Stalin in 1953. The same day, Gorbachev will be buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.

Gorbachev changed the course of history by triggering the demise of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev’s death triggered an outpouring of tributes from the West but reaction was muted in Russia, where many blamed him for the loss of the country’s status as a global superpower.