RUSSIA: Military salute fired as hundreds attend former army colonel Yuri Budanov's funeral in Moscow

Record ID: 757712

  • Title: RUSSIA: Military salute fired as hundreds attend former army colonel Yuri Budanov's funeral in Moscow
  • Date: 14th June 2011
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (JUNE 13, 2011) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF CHURCH GROUNDS WITH POLICE AT GATE PEOPLE BEING CHECKED THROUGH GATE INTO CHURCH COMPOUND SPECIAL FORCES GUARDS INSIDE CHURCH COMPOUND PRIEST INSIDE CHURCH COMPOUND MOURNERS WITH FLOWERS SMOKING INSIDE CHURCH COMPOUND VAN CARRYING COFFIN LEAVING COMPOUND, WOMAN THROWING ROSES BEFORE VAN WOMAN THROWING ROSES IN PATH OF VAN VAN LEAVES CHURCH COMPOUND FOLLOWED BY COLUMN OF MOURNERS VARIOUS EXTERIOR OF CEMETERY WITH GUARDS GROUP OF ARMY OFFICERS IN UNIFORM AT FUNERAL, SEEN THROUGH CEMETERY FENCE SECURITY GUARDS OUTSIDE CEMETERY CEMETERY ENTRANCE WITH FUNERAL IN PROGRESS VISIBLE THROUGH FENCE, SALUTE IS FIRED MOURNERS AT FUNERAL, SEEN THROUGH CEMETERY FENCE, SALUTE FIRED TROOP OF SOLDIERS OUTSIDE CEMETERY, PAN TO ENTRANCE AS MOURNERS LEAVE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) LEADER OF LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR ZHIRINOVSKY SAYING : "We'll strengthen the FSB (security services) and the special forces and the new Russian police force and the army. I think the Colonel's killer is already dead, has already been wiped out. Tens of terrorists who thought they would be celebrating their grubby action of the 10 of June have already been killed. On the night of June 10 they were already destroyed and they will go on being destroyed. We will always remember Yuri Dmitrovich Budanov as a Colonel of the Russian army who served as a hero in the Caucasus in the interests of Russia, in the interests of the Russian people." VARIOUS AS TROOP OF SOLDIERS AND MILITARY BAND MARCH AWAY FROM CEMETERY.
  • Embargoed: 29th June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA2HM8TZMTUDLCU9KJKYS61OPLI
  • Story Text: Hundreds of people on Monday (June 13) attended the funeral of Yuri Budanov, the Russian army colonel convicted of killing a Chechen girl ten years ago, in a case that still divides Russian society.
    Budanov was shot four times in the head in an attack in central Moscow on Friday (June 10) by an unknown gunman.
    Hundreds attended the funeral ceremony in the nothern Moscow suburb of Khimki. Tight security around the church and cemetery underlined fact that Russian authorities have been on alert for a violent far-right reaction to the Budanov killing.
    As the van carrying the coffin left the church compound, one mourner strewed red roses in its path as hundreds followed, applauding. When Budanov's coffin was placed in the ground, uniformed soldiers fired an honour salute in the air.
    Head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) Vladimir Zhirinovsky, whose party holds a sizeable minority of seats in the Russian Duma (parliament) was at the funeral.
    "We'll strengthen the FSB (security services) and the special forces and the new Russian police force and the army. I think the Colonel's killer is already dead, has already been wiped out. Tens of terrorists who thought they would be celebrating their grubby action of the 10 of June have already been killed. On the night of June 10 they were already detsroyed and they will go on being destroyed. We will always remember Yuri Dmitrovich Budanov as a Colonel of the Russian army who served as a hero in the Caucasus in the interests of Russia, in the interests of the Russian people," Zhirinovsky told reporters after the ceremony.
    Budanov was convicted in 2003 of strangled Chechen teenager Elza Kungayeva during a tour of duty in Chechnya but was released early in 2009 for good behaviour.
    The Budanov case divides Russian society - many saw him as the embodiment of the brutal methods used by the Kremlin to crush Chechen separatists while others hailed him as a hero - particularly in the military establishment and more recently among ultra-nationalist groups that have a growing following in Russia.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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