List of people who have received a state funeral

[22][23] Administered by the Military District of Washington (MDW), state funerals are greatly influenced by protocol, steeped in tradition, and rich in history.

In Russia, during the time of the Soviet Union (1917–1991), the state funerals of the most senior political and military leaders were staged as massive events with millions of mourners all over the USSR.

The ceremonies held after the deaths as Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko all followed the same basic outline.

They took place in Moscow, began with a public lying in state of the deceased in the House of the Unions and ended with an interment at the Red Square.

The state funeral for a deceased General Secretary would be arranged, managed and prepared by a special committee of the Communist Party that would be formed for the occasion.

[203] Prior to interment, the body of the deceased General Secretary would lie in state in the Pillar Hall of the House of the Unions which was decorated by numerous red flags and other communist symbols.

On the stage at the left side of the Pillar Hall, amid a veritable garden of flowers, a full orchestra in black tailcoats would play classical music.

The deceased's embalmed body, dressed in a black suit, white shirt and a tie, would be displayed in an open coffin on a catafalque banked with carnations, red roses and tulips, facing the long queue of mourners.

The senior mourners would then return to the balcony of the Lenin Mausoleum to review a parade on Red Square while the military band would play quick marches.

With small deviations, the described protocol was roughly the same for the state funerals of Lenin, Stalin, Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko.

In April 2007, the Russian Federation's first President Boris Yeltsin was buried in state funeral after church ceremony at Novodevichy Cemetery.

He was the first Russian leader and head of state in 113 years to be buried in a church ceremony, after Emperor Alexander III of Russia.

In November 2010, the Russian Federation's third Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin was buried in a state funeral in a church ceremony at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

In June 2015, the Russian Federation's 5th Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov was buried in a state funeral in a church ceremony at the Novodevichy Cemetery.