Scores of mourners streamed into central Moscow on Saturday to bid farewell to Mikhail Gorbachev. Though admired in the West, the late Soviet leader is far less popular in his home country.
Thousands of Russians filed past the open casket of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, on Saturday with many saying they wanted to honour his memory as "a peacemaker" who dismantled totalitarianism and gave them their freedom.
Natwar Singh, India's former external affairs minister, remembers the leader who tried, unsuccessfully, to salvage the USSR, a country that was already in decline due to the policies of his predecessors.
His death was announced on Tuesday by Russian news agencies, who said Gorbachev had died at a central hospital in Moscow "after a serious and long illness".
Mikhail Gorbachev, the last President of the Soviet Union and one of the most influential leaders of his time, died in Moscow aged 91. His death was announced on Tuesday by Russian news agencies.