Russia: Thousands pay last respects to Gorbachev in Moscow, Putin a no-show

Thousands of mourners lined up Saturday to pay tribute to the eighth and final Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, lauded in the West for helping end the Cold War, in a farewell burial snubbed by Russian President

The Kremlin's refusal to declare a state funeral reflects its uneasiness about the legacy of Gorbachev, who remains reviled by many at home for the Soviet collapse.

On Thursday, Putin privately laid flowers at Gorbachev's coffin at a Moscow hospital where he died. The Kremlin said the president's busy schedule would prevent him from attending the funeral.

Read more at: housands pay last respects to Gorbachev in Moscow, Putin a no-show | Euronews

Russia: Gorbachev at 90: The man who awkwardly pushed humanity forward

Gorbachev – tried to reform the old system. He had made the country’s economic life more effective, widened the scope of political participation, opened up society for debate, and introduced a new way of thinking in international affairs.

Gorbachev forever changed the statist power and cultural patterns in Soviet society, but as he desperately was trying to save the old Communist system, he ultimately failed to recognize that it was rotten to the core and unreformable. Ultimately, he ended up destroying what he had hoped to improve and set me and hundreds of millions of people free. For the first time in our lives, what we did with that newly acquired freedom was entirely up to us.

Read more at: Gorbachev at 90: The man who awkwardly pushed humanity forward | New Europe