Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has told newsmen about President Putin’s absence from the ex-Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is due only to the tight schedule of the Russian president.
According to Peskov, on the day of Gorbachev’s death, Kremlin expressed its heartfelt condolences to the family and people of Russia, and the next day, President Putin (a former KGB officer) paid a visit to the hospital where the former Soviet leader was proclaimed dead to pay his last respects.
So the schedule of the Russian president won’t allow him to be present at the farewell ceremony for the ex-leader this Saturday, which will also deprive Gorbachev death a state funeral, said Peskov.
The report has it that, the cold relationship between President Putin and Gorbachev could be one of the reasons for his presence at the funeral, as the past leader accused President Putin of running an authoritarian government.
The past leader was also at the forefront of those calling for the end of the hostile actions of President Putin in Russia, saying peace would be a preferable solution to armed conflicts.
The degree to which the western leaders praised Gorbachev differs from ex-Soviet loyalists. The Chinese, a loyalist, and ally of Russia accused Gorbachev of selling the Soviet Union to the west as he was the leader that brought an end to the Soviet Union.