On Saturday morning, September 3, hundreds of people began to gather near the House of Unions in Moscow to say goodbye to the only president of the Soviet Union in history, Mikhail Gorbachev, who died on August 30 at the age of 92. Now Gorbachev will be buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery next to his wife.
The farewell ceremony was broadcast live by Reuters, the frames show the queue.
Those wishing to say goodbye to Gorbachev passed by the coffin with the body, near which guards stood, and laid flowers next to it. The relatives of the politician were sitting not far from the coffin. A line of people wishing to say goodbye to Gorbachev lined up in the direction of the Hall of Columns of the House of the Unions, almost the entire building was cordoned off. For the ceremony, the exits from the Teatralnaya metro station were partially blocked, the entrance to the House of Unions was organized from the side of Kopevsky Lane. In Kamergersky Lane, from where the pass to the building was carried out, a queue also formed. Part of Bolshaya Dmitrovka Street near the House of the Unions was also blocked, law enforcement officers did not let cars through, it was only possible to approach on foot.
Journalists asked people standing in line what they thought of Gorbachev:
Alla Pugacheva, who recently returned to Russia, came to say goodbye to Mikhail Gorbachev. She laid flowers and approached her relatives to express condolences.
The deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, also expressed his condolences to the family. He also laid flowers at the coffin and spoke with members of the Gorbachev family for some time.
Among the European politicians, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (who is regularly accused of having close ties to the Kremlin) arrived to say goodbye. He arrived only for the farewell ceremony with Gorbachev, and there is no official meeting with Putin during the visit. Also attending the ceremony were Suzanne Massey, former adviser to President Reagan, and US Ambassador John Sullivan. Interfax claims that in addition to them, the ambassadors of Greece, Finland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain and the United States flew to Russia.
Propagandist Dmitry Kiselev appeared at the ceremony, the media does not publish photos with him. Journalist Vladimir Pozner also came to say goodbye to Gorbachev. In the photo from the ceremony, Nobel laureate and editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta Dmitry Muratov was seen.
Journalists also noticed the leader of the Yabloko faction, Grigory Yavlinsky.
Komsomolskaya Pravda editor-in-chief Vladimir Sungorkin told Gazeta.ru that most journalists were not allowed to say goodbye to Gorbachev. Correspondent "KP" Dina Karpitskaya suggested that the reason for this could be the decision of the Federal Security Service (FSO).
“Yesterday we submitted all the documents, filled out the FSO forms with the collection of documents. But, nevertheless, we were not on the lists today. Not only our publication – there are a lot of journalists at the back entrance to the Hall of Columns. Even Rossiya 24, Moskovsky Komsomolets, no one was found on the lists. The list of media turned out to be very short. The reason is the FSO. They either cut off the lists of the Gorbachev Foundation, or even made some of their own.”
The Gorbachev Foundation is also unaware of the reasons for the situation; “only a few media outlets” were allowed into the building. The ceremony was actively covered by TASS, RIA Novosti, Interfax, as well as Ksenia Sobchak, posting photos and videos on social networks and websites.
Vladimir Putin and Mikhail Mishustin did not personally attend the ceremony, they sent wreaths. It became known earlier that Putin would not come to the general farewell, he referred to a busy work schedule and a trip to Kaliningrad. On September 1, Putin drove to the Central Clinical Hospital to say goodbye to Gorbachev and lay flowers separately from the rest.