Crowds of Russians queued near the Kremlin to pay their last farewell to the body of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, who was buried on Saturday, at a small funeral that Russian President Vladimir Putin was absent.
The funeral began this morning with this ceremonial open to the public in the Council of Trade Unions, a symbolic place in the Russian capital where the bodies of a number of communist leaders such as Joseph Stalin in 1953 were buried.
Gorbachev will later be buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery, along with his wife, Raisa Gorbacheva, who died in 1999.
Gorbachev, who left a controversial legacy in Russia, died last Tuesday at the age of 91, after a "long struggle with a serious illness," according to what was announced by the Russian presidential hospital where he was being treated.
Gorbachev - who came to power in 1985 - is highly respected in Western countries, while a section of Russians believes that he contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 when he made political and economic changes.
The collapse of the Soviet Union, which Putin called "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century," brought the Cold War to an end.
Masses of Russians queued to participate in the farewell ceremony for the last leader of the Soviet Union (European)
On Thursday, the Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not attend Gorbachev's funeral.
"We know that the main ceremonies will be held on September 3, as well as the funeral, but the president's schedule will not allow him to attend," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press.
The country has not declared a day of national mourning for Gorbachev, but the Kremlin said there would be "state funeral elements" during his funeral, in particular the participation of an honor guard.
Earlier, according to televised scenes, Putin had gone to the Central Hospital in Moscow, where Gorbachev died, to pay tribute to his memory.
The Russian president placed a bouquet of roses near the open casket, stood for seconds near the body, and then bowed his head in respect.
In the context of high tension between Russia and Western countries over the war in Ukraine, no foreign leader has been announced to Moscow to participate in the funeral, except for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The Hungarian State Secretary for International Communications announced via Twitter that Orban, who pursues a unilateral policy in Europe through gas trade with Russia, is heading to Moscow on Saturday morning to attend the funeral of the last leader of the Soviet Union.
And he wrote in his tweet that Orban - who is accompanied by a delegation of officials - wants to "pay tribute to the late Mikhail Gorbachev."
For its part, the Kremlin announced that there was no scheduled meeting between Orban and Russian President Vladimir Putin.