Mikhail Gorbachev, who changed the course of history by triggering the demise of the Soviet Union, and who was one of the great figures of the 20th century, has died in Moscow, aged 91.
Moscow – Mikhail Gorbachev, who changed the course
of history by triggering the demise of the Soviet Union, and who was one of the
great figures of the 20th century, has died in Moscow, aged 91.
His death was announced on Tuesday by Russian news
agencies, which said Gorbachev had died at a central hospital in Moscow
«after a serious and long illness».
Gorbachev, in power between 1985 and 1991, helped
bring US-Soviet relations out of a deep freeze and was the last surviving Cold
War leader.
His life was one of the most influential of his
times, and his reforms as Soviet leader transformed his country and allowed
Eastern Europe to free itself from Soviet rule.
The changes he set in motion saw him lionised in
the West – he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 – but also earned him the scorn
of many Russians who lamented the end of their country’s role as a global
superpower.
He spent much of the past two decades on the
political periphery, intermittently calling for the Kremlin and the White House
to mend ties as tensions soared to Cold War levels after Russia annexed Crimea
in 2014, and launched an offensive in Ukraine earlier this year.
‘One-of-a kind statesman’
His relationship with President Vladimir Putin was
difficult at times, but the Russian leader nonetheless expressed his «deep
sympathies» after Gorbachev’s death.
«In the morning, (Putin) will send a telegram
of condolences to his family and friends,» Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry
Peskov told Russian news agencies.
Gorbachev spent the twilight years of his life in
and out of hospital with increasingly fragile health and observed
self-quarantine during the pandemic as a precaution against the coronavirus.
Gorbachev was regarded fondly in the West, where he
was affectionately referred to as Gorby and best known for defusing US-Soviet
nuclear tensions in the 1980s, as well as bringing Eastern Europe out from
behind the Iron Curtain.
