Not their level

Russia at the funeral of the former president of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic of Vaclav Gavel will be represented by the Commissioner for Human Rights Vladimir Lukin. According to Gazeta.ru, this was announced by the press secretary of Dmitry Medvedeva Natalya Timakova. "Lukin represents Russia at the funeral. He will express condolences on behalf of the country and the president," Timakova said.

The funeral of Gavel will be held on Friday. The intention to say goodbye to the former president of the Czech Republic was announced by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with his spouse, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German President Christian Wulf, Austrian President Hinz Fisher, Israeli President Shimon Perez, President Danilo Turk, President of Slovakia, Ivan Gasparovich, President Ivan Gasparovich Grybausk.

In the early days, the Russian leadership did not respond to a message about the death of the former president of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic of Vaclav Gavel. Neither President Dmitry Medvedev, nor Prime Minister Vladimir Putin expressed condolences. The leading world politicians, including the heads of state, expressed their condolences to the relatives of the former president and the entire Czech people. The day before, US President Barack Obama expressed condolences in connection with the death of Vaclav Havel, noting his role in the creation of a united Europe.

France President Nicolas Sarkozy said that "France has lost a friend, and Europe is one of its wisest husbands." German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Vaclav Gavel a "great European." “We will not forget his struggle for freedom and democracy, nor his great humanism,” Merkel said.

Thousands of people gathered in the center of Prague to honor the memory of Vaclav Havel. All night people carried flowers and candles, exactly at 6 pm in local time in the temples rang the bells. The nationwide newspaper MLADA Fronta Dnes prepared an emergency special issue in memory of the deceased ex-president.

Vaclav Gavel died on Sunday at the age of 75 due to complications after a long illness.

In the late 1980s, Gavel was one of the creators of the Civil Forum, which became the main opposition force in Czechoslovakia on the eve of the collapse of the socialist bloc. On December 29, 1989, at a joint meeting of both chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Havel was elected president. After the Czech Republic and Slovakia became independent states in 1993, Gavel became the first president of the independent Czech Republic and held this post until 2003.

Havel is known as one of the brightest political figures in Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall. He managed to carry out successful economic reforms in the post -socialist country, which did not go against the ideals of democracy and humanism that Gavel preached.

Shortly before the death of Gavel, in a commentary for Novaya Gavel, Gavel described the events that began in Russia after the December 4 elections, as the “echo of the Iron Curtain”, the echo of political changes in 1989-1990. ” According to Gavel, "it is necessary to first convince Russia of Russia that the regime that is presented by him under the guise of democracy is not a democracy." "There can be no question of democracy as long as the authorities offends the dignity of citizens, crushes justice, the media and manipulates the results of the elections." The greatest threat to Russia Havel called the indifference and apathy of people. He advised Russian citizens to “tirelessly seek recognition and compliance with their rights and freedoms,” and the opposition “unite, form a shadow government and explain their program to people throughout Russia,” as well as “create influential legal institutions to protect citizens from police and legal arbitrariness”.