Vladimir Putin will not attend Mikhail Gorbachev’s funeral, Kremlin says

The Russian president will not attend the service due to ‘schedule constraints,’ the Kremlin said

Vladimir Putin is to skip the funeral of the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, the Kremlin has said.

The Russian president’s spokesperson said he would be unable to attend this coming Saturday’s service due to scheduling constraints and had instead paid his respects on Thursday by laying flowers at Mr Gorbachev’s coffin at the Moscow hospital where his body is being kept.

“Regrettably, the president’s working schedule wouldn’t allow him to do that on Saturday, so he decided to do that today,” Dmitry Peskov said.