THE former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev has died at the age of 91.
Mr Gorbachev was the final leader of the communist regime and became head of state in 1988 and its president in March 1990.
The Mega AgencyPresident Mikhail Gorbachev, seen here in 1990, has died at the age of 91[/caption]
PA:Press AssociationMr Gorbachev shares a laugh with Lady Thatcher in 2005[/caption]
Handout – GettyMr Gorbachev with then US President Ronald Reagan in the White House in 1987[/caption]
The Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow said that Gorbachev died ‘after a serious and long illness’, according to the Interfax, TASS and RIA Novosti news agencies.
The former Soviet leader had been suffering from long term kidney problems and was on dialysis, according to reports.
During the Covid pandemic, he was reportedly confined to a clinic. Gorbachev’s wife Raisa, the former Soviet first lady, died in 1999.
He became known for his sweeping reforms, ‘glasnost’, moving away from hardline communist ideology.
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Mr Gobachev was widely praised for his part in ending the Cold War with the West.
Gorbachev, the last Soviet president, forged arms reduction deals with the United States and partnerships with Western powers to remove the Iron Curtain that had divided Europe since World War Two and bring about the reunification of Germany.
When pro-democracy protests swept across the Soviet bloc nations of communist Eastern Europe in 1989, he refrained from using force – unlike previous Kremlin leaders who had sent tanks to crush uprisings in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968.
But the protests fuelled aspirations for autonomy in the 15 republics of the Soviet Union, which disintegrated over the next two years in chaotic fashion.
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Gorbachev struggled in vain to prevent that collapse.
On becoming general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in 1985, aged just 54, he had set out to revitalise the system by introducing limited political and economic freedoms, but his reforms spun out of control.
His policy of ‘glasnost’ – free speech – allowed previously unthinkable criticism of the party and the state, but also emboldened nationalists who began to press for independence in the Baltic republics of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and elsewhere.
Many Russians never forgave Gorbachev for the turbulence that his reforms unleashed, considering the subsequent plunge in their living standards too high a price to pay for democracy.
After visiting Gorbachev in hospital on June 30, liberal economist Ruslan Grinberg told the armed forces news outlet Zvezda: “He gave us all freedom – but we don’t know what to do with it.”
In recent years, Gorbachev warned the world was in “colossal danger” and must destroy all nuclear weapons to save the planet and mankind.
The ex-Soviet president said tension between the Russia and the West will remain fraught as long as weapons of mass destruction exist.
In an interview with the BBC, he said: ‘As long as weapon of mass destruction exist, primarily nuclear weapons, the danger is colossal. ‘All nations should declare that nuclear weapons must be destroyed. This is to save ourselves and the planet.’
Russian journalist Alexei Venediktov also revealed was “upset” his life’s work was being undone by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
He said: “I can tell you that he is upset. Of course, he understands that…this was his life’s work.
“Freedoms were brought by Gorbachev. Everyone forgot who gave freedom to the Russian Orthodox Church? Who was it? Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev.
“The freedom of press, the first media law, who brought it? Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev. Private property? Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev.’
“So what would [Gorbachev] be able to say now?”
