Vladimr Putin also pays homage to the body of Mikhail Gorbachev , the last leader of the USSR, as well as the father of Perestroika, who died on August 30 at the age of 91.
The president of Russia went to the funeral home set up at the Central Hospital Clinic in Moscow , where Gorbachev died after a long illness.
In a video released by the Ria Novosti agency, Putin is seen placing a bouquet of red flowers next to the open coffin , and then lingering for a few moments in meditation and prayer.
But the Russian leader will not be present at the funeral , scheduled for Saturday, due to "other commitments" - his spokespersons say.
Despite today's homage, for many observers the Kremlin's reaction to the death of the last secretary of the Soviet Communist Party was "cold". This is because in today's Putin and Putinist Russia, Gorbachev remains a political figure of historical significance, but controversial .
With the Perestroika and Glasnost he promoted, in fact, the USSR began the change - and also a progressive approach to the Western world - which led to the definitive decline of the Soviet model and, finally, to its dissolution.
(Unioneonline / lf)