Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, died at the age of 91. He ended the Cold War without bloodshed but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union.
“Gorbachev died this evening after a serious and long illness,” the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow said late on Tuesday. He died after a long illness.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed “deep sympathies” over Gorbachev’s death.
The official news agency of Russia reported Gorbachev will be buried at Moscow’s Novodevichy Cemetery next to his wife.
United Nations (UN) chief Antonio Guterres in a statement praised Gorbachev as “a one-of-a-kind statesman who changed the course of history” and “did more than any other individual to bring about the peaceful end of the Cold War”.
The spokesperson of the Russian government said that Putin had an ambiguous relationship with Gorbachev. Putin had referred to the end of the Soviet Union as “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century”.
Gorbachev led the USSR from 1985 until its collapse in 1991 and is seen as one of the most important figures of 20th century history. However, while he enjoys a positive reputation outside of the country, he is viewed differently inside Russia.
In a 2021 poll, more than 70 per cent of Russians said their country had moved in a negative direction during Gorbachev’s rule, while he was previously ranked as the most unpopular Russian leader of the past century, a state-run pollster said.
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