Russia's Putin joins mourners to pay respects to ex-classmate and top judge
MOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin joined mourners on Thursday to say farewell to his former classmate Irina Podnosova, the head of Russia's Supreme Court, who died earlier this week aged 71.
Putin looked sad and pensive as he sat alongside members of Podnosova's family in a Moscow hospital where her open casket was placed on display, flanked by an honour guard, for people to pay their final respects.
Putin placed a bouquet of red flowers at the foot of her coffin, crossed himself, and bowed his head over the open casket before talking to her family.
Putin, 72, and Podnosova were fellow law students in the 1970s in Leningrad, now St Petersburg, where the future president launched his career in the KGB security service. Podnosova was one of several trusted associates from that period who took on senior roles in politics and the judiciary after he became president.
Podnosova had been chair of the Supreme Court for little more than a year. She died of cancer, Russian media reported.
(Reporting by Reuters, writing by Mark TrevelyanEditing by Andrew Osborn)
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