Vladimir Putin, the Russian President hailed Mandela as a ''great humanist of the 21st century''.

A few newspapers went to town saying that Mr Karat had finally spoken of outdated '1940s-style' politics.

Russian writer and dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn died of heart failure on Sunday.

Former French president Jacques Chirac was awarded Russia's highest state prize for "outstanding humanitarian achievement" in a pomp-filled...