Mikhail Gorbachev Thousands pay felicitations to last Soviet leaderThousands of people in Russia have paid their last felicitations to Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader who brought the Cold War to a peaceful end. 
numerous queued for hours to file past his pall in a major hall where former Soviet leaders lay in state.
But the man who oversaw the bifurcation of the USSR wasn't given a state burial.
President Vladimir Putin, who has called the end of the union the" topmost geopolitical catastrophe of the century", isn't attending.
The Kremlin's sanctioned explanation No space in his schedule.
As people made their way inside the Columned Hall of the House of Unions, murky music played- a huge black and white portrayal of Mr Gorbachev hanging from the deck.
The former chairman lay in an open pall, adjoined by a guard of honour.
His son and other family members sat there as people lay flowers. Soon, there was a ocean of red carnations.
It was then that Mr Gorbachev's forerunners, Soviet leaders like Lenin, Stalin and Brezhnev, lay in state, too.
numerous Russians condemn Mikhail Gorbachev for launching reforms that caused profitable chaos and for letting the Soviet Union fall piecemeal.
But in the thoroughfares around the Hall of Unions, long lines of Muscovites- youthful and old- queued up to pay their felicitations.
Liberal politician Grigory Yavlinsky was among them, saying" These people came to Gorbachev to say' Thank you Mr Gorbachev. You gave us a chance, but we lost this chance."
Mr Gorbachev failed on Tuesday, aged 91.
He took power in 1985, introducing bold reforms and opening the USSR to the world.
But he was unfit to help the collapse of the union in 1991, and numerous Russians condemn him for the times of fermentation that replaced.
Outside Russia, he was extensively admired, with the UN Secretary General António Guterres saying he'd" changed the course of history", and US President Joe Biden calling him a" rare leader".
Among those filing past the pall on Saturday, was Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban- a close supporter of Mr Putin's. No other foreign leaders were known to have attended.
Another Putin supporter- his precursor Dmitry Medvedev- showed up, latterly to rebuke the West for seeking to break up Russia.
Others included fellow Nobel laureate Dmitry Muratov, who praised Mr Gorbachev for putting mortal rights" above the state", and the ministers of the US, UK and Germany.
In fact, so numerous Russians were keen to pay their felicitations that the form had to be extended.
But the fact that this wasn't a state burial is a sign that the current Kremlin leadership has little interest in honouring Mr Gorbachev's heritage.
It was well known that Mr Putin and Mr Gorbachev had a simulated relationship- their last meeting was reportedly in 2006.
Most lately, Mr Gorbachev was said to have been unhappy with Russia's irruption of Ukraine, indeed though he'd supported the annexation of Ukraine's Crimea promontory in 2014.
OBITUARY Soviet leader who helped end Cold War
STEVE ROSENBERG Flashing back a warm- hearted man
IN filmland The life of Mikhail Gorbachev
WATCH Duetting with Gorbachev
He's seen in the West as an mastermind of reform who created the conditions for the end of the Cold War in 1991- a time of deep pressure between the Soviet Union and Western nations, including the US and Britain.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990" for the leading part he played in the radical changes in East- West relations".
But in the new Russia that surfaced after 1991, he was on the circumferences of politics, fastening on educational and philanthropic systems.
Gorbachev made one ill- fated attempt to return to political life in 1996, entering just0.5 of the vote in presidential choices.