Vladimir Putin visited the coffin of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev after confirming that it would be provided at his funeral.
The Russian president visited the central clinical hospital on the morning of September 1 to pay tribute to the boy with whom he had a complicated relationship.
The Russian leader bowed to the coffin and placed flowers on it, while betting on a photo of the former ruler next to him.
Then he signed himself and touched the coffin, but he will still make his funeral in an obvious camouflage. Gorbachev will also get a state funeral.
In the Kremlin there would be “elements of a state funeral, in the sense that naturally there will be a guard of honor and a farewell. “
They added: “The state goes with the organization. “
Putin once called the collapse of the Soviet Union, which succeeded Gorbachev, “the greatest geopolitical disaster of the century. “
However, after his death, Putin said it had “a massive effect on the course of world history” in a condolence telegram sent on Wednesday, August 31.
He added that Gorbachev “deeply understood that reforms were needed. “
Opinion in Russia is divided over its former leader, with some praising the reforms and relative openness it has brought, while others remain furious and blame it for the demise of one of the world’s toughest nations.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said: “He sincerely wanted the Cold War to end and usher in an era of eternal romance between a new Soviet Union and the world, the West.
“This romanticism turned out to be false. There was no romantic period, a 100-year honeymoon did not materialize, and the bloodthirsty nature of our adversaries was revealed. It’s smart that we understood it in time and that we understood it. “
Gorbachev opened Russia to a more liberal era that included dissent between the press and the people, and led states to break with the union and its eventual collapse in 1991.
In turn, Gorbachev had also criticized Putin’s repressive way of governing, restricting his citizens by suppressing lax speech.
The central clinical hospital is also the same one where Russian oil leader Ravil Maganov of the Lukoil oil company died when he fell from a window.
The oligarch had criticized Putin’s doomed invasion of Ukraine around the world and is the newest high-level war critic to mysteriously perish.
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