Russians prepare to say farewell to the Soviet Union’s last leader Mikhail Gorbachev
A public farewell ceremony for Putin will be missing Saturday’s funeral due to his work schedule, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The Russian leader did, however, pay his respects to Gorbachev on Thursday. Footage showed Putin laying a bouquet of roses by the open coffin in Central Clinical Hospital, Putin then bowed and made the sign of the cross. Saturday’s funeral is a marked contrast to the death of Russia’s first democratically elected president Boris Yeltsin — who had handpicked Putin to be his successor. The Kremlin announced a day of national mourning following Yeltsin’s death in 2007, and his funeral was attended by a host of world leaders, including Putin, former US Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush, Britain’s former Prime Minister John Major and Prince Andrew, as well as former Polish president Lech Walesa.Gorbachev’s funeral is unlikely to receive a similar roster of famous guests, as Moscow has banned hundreds of foreign officials from entering Russia in retaliation for Western sanctions.
