BBC's Andrew Harding: "An icon - now a martyr"

The architect of Russia's privatisation programme, Anatoly Chubais, told hundreds of mourners in St Petersburg: "We will fulfil the goals she sacrificed her life for."

"It is impossible to scare us," he said, adding that it was not the first time one of his colleagues had been killed.

President Yeltsin - who is in hospital with pneumonia - was represented by his First Deputy Chief of Staff, Yuri Yarov.

"The shooting in St Petersburg is a grim lesson for the whole of Russia," said Mr Yarov.

"A crime of this magnitude is a political act, and society should know all the truth about it."

A former minister, Boris Nemtsov, told the BBC that Mrs Starovoitova's death could be a turning point, giving Russia a chance to overcome organised crime.

After the service, the coffin was taken to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra monastery where author Fyodor Dostoyevsky and composers Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Modest Mussorgsky are buried.

So many mourners filed past the open coffin - many weeping - that Mrs Starovoitova's burial had to be delayed.

BBC Correspondent James Coomarasamy, who attended the ceremony, says the mood in Russia is one of intense outrage and grief.

'Death of Democracy'

Galina Starovoitova: Respected

Mrs Starovoitova, who was co-chair of the Democratic Russia Party, was gunned down by two unknown attackers on Friday night at the entrance to her apartment.

The murder has shocked the country, with many people describing it as the death of democracy.

"Russia is never going to be the same. I think Russia has lost its soul, and we should all feel guilty," said the writer and commentator Vitali Vitaliev, who knew her.

Some see the murder as the death of democracy

One national television channel devoted continuous live coverage to the funeral.

Newspapers have carried blanket coverage of her death.

"The killing of Galina Starovoitova has come as a tragic illustration of the government's powerlessness. That is the price we have paid for a myth about national accord," the business daily Kommersant said.

She was known as a liberal and fierce advocate of democracy.

Professor Margot Light: "She was a very outspoken critic"

President Yeltsin, who described Mrs Starovoitova as a "passionate tribune of democracy", has taken personal charge of an investigation into her murder.

The Kremlin has even said that Mr Yeltsin's current illness was partly brought on by the news of her death.

Murders of public figures in Russia have become increasingly common in recent years, but police have linked most of them with shady business dealings following the collapse of the Soviet state.

However, Mrs Starovoitova, the leader of a democratic party, had no known business dealings.

MP Alexander Sheshlov: "A brilliant politician"

She is the sixth Russian MP to have been killed, but many commentators are saying it is the first case of such a prominent politician being assassinated for their political views.

Our correspondent says Russia's democratic leaders have seen the assassination as a call for their fractious movement to unite.

They have already taken a first step - in St Petersburg's upcoming local elections the democrats will field a single candidate.