Russians bid farewell to Gorbachev, but without Putin

Hundreds of mourners lined up to quietly file past Gorbachev's open casket as it was flanked by honour guards under the Russian flag in Moscow's historic Hall of Columns.

The hall has long been used for the funerals of high officials in Russia and it was where the body of Joseph Stalin first lay in state during four days of national mourning after his death in 1953.

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Gorbachev died on Tuesday at the age of 91 following a "serious and long illness", the hospital where he was treated said.

In power between 1985 and 1991, Gorbachev sought to transform the Soviet Union with democratic reforms, but eventually triggered its demise.

One of the great political figures of the 20th century, he was lionised in the West for helping to end the Cold War and trying to change the USSR, but despised by many in Russia for the economic chaos and loss of global influence that followed the Soviet collapse.

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He had spent most of the last few decades out of the political limelight and his death this week was barely acknowledged in official circles in Russia.

State television on Thursday showed images of Putin, alone, laying a bouquet of red roses near Gorbachev's open casket at the hospital where he died.

But the Kremlin said Putin would not attend Saturday's funeral due to his "work schedule".

There were few other signs of an official presence at the ceremony, where Gorbachev's daughter Irina Virganskaya sat to the side of the coffin with other family members.