Putin will not attend the funeral of Mikhail Gorbachev

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the funeral of former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, which is scheduled for September 3, press secretary of the head of state Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a daily briefing.

According to Peskov, Putin said goodbye to Gorbachev and laid flowers at the coffin today before leaving for Kaliningrad, at the Central Clinical Hospital. “The general farewell ceremony will take place on September 3, the funeral. But, unfortunately, the president’s work schedule will not allow him to do this on September 3rd. Therefore, he decided to definitely do it today,” the presidential press secretary explained.

He also said that at Gorbachev’s funeral there would be “elements of state funerals” – in particular, they would be assisted with their organization and an honor guard would be present at them.

Gorbachev died on August 30 after a severe and prolonged illness. The politician will be buried at the Novodevichy cemetery next to his wife. Putin earlier expressed condolences on the death of the politician, noting that the last General Secretary of the USSR fell “a period of complex, dramatic changes.” He also faced foreign policy, economic and social challenges, Putin added.

Gorbachev headed the USSR from 1985 to 1991. At first he served as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and in 1990 he became the first president in the history of the country. Under Gorbachev, the policy of perestroika, glasnost, acceleration and reset of international relations began. He resigned his powers after the signing of the Belovezhskaya Accords, which declared the collapse of the USSR. In 1990 Gorbachev received the Nobel Peace Prize.