Moscow, Sept. 3 (BNA): Muscovites lined up near the Kremlin on Saturday to pay their respects to Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader who was so admired in the West for his reforms and who lived long enough to see the Russian leadership retreat. Much of this change.
Reuters said Gorbachev, who died on Tuesday at the age of 91, was due to be buried without state honors or the presence of President Vladimir Putin.
However, he was given a public farewell, as the authorities allowed the Russians to view his coffin in the imposing Hall of Columns, within sight of the Kremlin, where the former Soviet leaders were mourned.
The pallbearers lifted Gorbachev’s wooden coffin, covered with a Russian tricolor, and placed it in the center of the hall, where a soft recording of the melancholy music from “Schindler’s List” was played in the background.
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