The final leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, was buried in Moscow on Saturday after a funeral that was snubbed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and not accorded the status of formal state service, despite Gorbachev’s standing as one of the most important political figures of the past half-century. Gorbachev’s funeral was held at the palatial Pillar Hall of the House of the Unions, and he was later buried at Novodevichy Cemetery alongside many other distinguished Russians. The event was not a formal state funeral, which would have required Putin to attend and invitations to be sent out to foreign leaders Putin’s spokesman claimed he was too busy to attend.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán appeared to be the only foreign head of state to attend the service.
