Moscow fires Gorbachev

Thousands of Muscovites came this Saturday to bid farewell to the first and last president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachevwho died on August 30 at the age of 91.

There were many who got up early to say goodbye to the Soviet leader in a ceremony at the House of Trade Unions in the Russian capital, in the presence of his family, and attended by artists, politicians and other celebrities.

However, the funeral honors did not have the status of a state funeral and did not have the presence of President Vladimir Putin, who said goodbye before the deceased former president and laid a wreath in his honor prior to a trip for work reasons to the region. from Kaliningrad.

Although the leadership of the country was represented by the vice president of the Security Council of Russia and former President Dmitry Medvedev, many took Putin’s absence as something of a snub, although it was not surprising in the context of the current situation in Russia and the conflict with Ukraine and the West.

For Moscow and a good part of its 15 million inhabitants, this Saturday was just another day, but not for those who queued to enter the premises, almost all of them for more than an hour. The line reached the nearby Bolshoi theater, more than 500 meters away.

Although the faces of elderly people who surely lived through the age of the perestroika, there were not a few young people who approached, either out of respect or curiosity. Many of the attendees brought flowers to place at the entrance, always in even quantities, as required by Russian tradition for the deceased.

Among the familiar faces was Alla Pugachovastar of Soviet and Russian pop music.

Gorbachev was buried in the Novodevichi Cemetery, where his wife, Raiza Gorbachev, rests, and not on the kremlin walllike most Russian and Soviet leaders.

Despite being a sunny day in early autumn, just during the burial, a heavy downpour fell that ended when the coffin was lowered.

Some Russians, so prone to superstition, wondered if it was more than chance.