Gorbachev

Reformer who oversaw peaceful end of cold war had been suffering from 'long-term illness'

[Purchase a Print subscription for 11,12 € per week You will be billed 107,91 € per month after the trial ends](https://subs.ft.com/spa3_uk3m?segmentId=461cfe95-f454-6e0b-9f7b-0800950bef25&utm_us=JJIBAX&utm_eu=WWIBEAX&utm_ca=JJIBAZ&utm_as=FIBAZ&ft-content-uuid=8a5b8585-60a6-4678-a7d8-ce7f7f9f1fb3) [Purchase a Digital subscription for 6,64 € per week You will be billed 39 € per month after the trial ends](https://subs.ft.com/spa3_digital?ft-content-uuid=8a5b8585-60a6-4678-a7d8-ce7f7f9f1fb3) [Purchase a Trial subscription for 1 € for 4 weeks You will be billed 65 € per month after the trial ends](/signup?offerId=41218b9e-c8ae-c934-43ad-71b13fcb4465&ft-content-uuid=8a5b8585-60a6-4678-a7d8-ce7f7f9f1fb3)

Tributes paid to politician who helped bring about the end of the cold war, who has died at 91.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Gorbachev family and the people of Russia”. I am optimistic that as the west works patiently together and increasingly cooperates with the Soviet Union, we can realise a lasting peace and transform the east-west relationship to one of enduring cooperation.” There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. And now, with reform under way in the Soviet Union, we stand at the threshold of a brand new era of US-Soviet relations... The Washington Blade, a gay newspaper, ran an ad for a Mrs Gorbachev look-alike contest... Negotiations and dialogue on the basis of mutual respect and recognition of interests are the only possible way to resolve the most acute contradictions and problems. Now, the last remaining agreement between US and Russia limiting nuclear weapons is being corroded by Russia’s suspension of mutual inspections. In the wake of the Ukraine invasion in February, Nato has rushed troops eastwards, mobilising 40,000 troops under its direct command, with plans to put 300,000 on high alert. I think that’s a mistake,” he said at a public event in the US. I think he should change his style and make changes to his regime.” We’re giving Gorbachev approval ratings higher than those for all the Democratic candidates except Jesse Jackson. I get the feeling he’s very tense and worried …

The former president of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev has died, according to Russian news agencies. | ITV National News.

“He played a crucial role to end the Cold War and bring down the Iron Curtain. “Our society was stifled in the grip of a bureaucratic command system,” Gorbachev wrote. His former allies deserted him and made him a scapegoat for the country’s troubles. It opened the way for a free Europe. And it would have immediately pushed the country into a civil war,” he said. Yet Gorbachev may have had a greater impact on the second half of the 20th century than any other political figure. He also struck up a good relationship with then-US president Ronald Reagen. Mr Kissinger, after again acknowledging Mr Gorbachev was unable able to implement his full vision, added: “He will still be remembered in history as a man who started historic transformations that were to the benefit of mankind and to the Russian people.” He told BBC’s Newsnight: “The people of eastern Europe and the German people, and in the end the Russian people, owe him a great debt of gratitude for the inspiration, for the courage in coming forward with these ideas of freedom.” Mr Johnson has said that he is “saddened” to hear that Mikhail Gorbachev has died, in a “time of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine.” “I see myself as a man who started the reforms that were necessary for the country and for Europe and the world,” Gorbachev said in a 1992 interview shortly after he left office. By the end of his rule he was powerless to halt the whirlwind he had sown.

By instituting glasnost and perestroika, a series of reforms, Gorbachev tried to reinvigorate the stagnant economy and shed the more totalitarian aspects of ...

It took Gorbachev sixteen days to go public with what had happened but it was a turning point for him, revealing the awful consequences of nuclear power. But the economy Gorbachev inherited was failing. "Our hearts demand change," the chorus went and the people felt it too. summed-up the mood of the time. Gorbachev, holidaying in Crimea, was put under house arrest. "That's how you must live." In interviews in later life, the length of his answers was often offset by the twinkle in his eye. By his side throughout was Raisa, the love of his life and his closest counsel. In November, Yeltsin who was president of the republic of Russia, banned the communist party and one month later, together with his After the death of Konstantin Chernenko in 1985, Gorbachev was seen as a new kind of Soviet leader. He came to power in 1985 when the USSR was seen as the evil empire, locked in a nuclear arms race with the United States. By instituting glasnost and perestroika, a series of reforms, Gorbachev tried to reinvigorate the stagnant economy and shed the more totalitarian aspects of Soviet life by allowing for at least some freedom of expression, but it set off a chain of events.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that President Vladimir Putin offered deep condolences over Mr Gorbachev's ...

He ventured into other new areas in his 70s, winning awards and kudos around the world. “Our society was stifled in the grip of a bureaucratic command system,” he wrote. And it would have immediately pushed the country into a civil war,” he said. Long-suppressed ethnic tensions flared, sparking wars and unrest in trouble spots such as the southern Caucasus region. Russians blamed him for the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union — a once-fearsome superpower whose territory fractured into 15 separate nations. Hyper-inflation robbed most older people of their life’s savings, factories shut down, and bread lines formed.

Former Soviet Union leader Mikahil Gorbachev has died aged 91, Russian news agencies are reporting tonight. Mr Gorbachev was undergoing treatment at Central ...

[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). ‘The country was loaded to the brim with weapons. [Boris Johnson](https://metro.co.uk/tag/boris-johnson/) paid tribute to the former leader’s ‘courage and integrity’ in bringing the Cold War to a ‘peaceful conclusion’. ‘He played a crucial role to end the Cold War and bring down the Iron Curtain. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Gorbachev ‘will forever be remembered as the last leader of the Soviet Union who had the courage and conviction to end the Cold War’. Meanwhile Arnold Schwarzenegger referred to Mr Gorbachev as ‘one of my heroes’, adding he was ‘unbelievably lucky to call him a friend’. ‘Doomed to serve ideology and bear the heavy burden of the arms race, it was strained to the utmost.’ ‘Our society was stifled in the grip of a bureaucratic command system,’ he wrote. He revealed in his memoirs how he had become frustrated that a country with immense natural resources was home to tens of millions in poverty. Shortly before his departure from office, he said: ‘I see myself as a man who started the reforms that were necessary for the country and for Europe and the world. [the downfall of the authoritarian Soviet Union in 1991](https://metro.co.uk/2016/12/26/the-soviet-union-officially-collapsed-on-this-day-25-years-ago-6345294/) after he became general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in 1985. And it would have immediately pushed the country into a civil war,’ he told the Associated Press.

The last leader of the Soviet Union, he was ousted as his reforms pointing to the end of the USSR spiralled out of control.

He made an ill-starred effort to run in the 1996 Russian presidential election, but was shut out of the state television channels and got few votes. The hardliners had no obvious alternative and the plenum voted to withdraw the issue of his future from the agenda. This was what led to the second stage of the Gorbachev reforms, as he decided that the system had to change, and not just the men who ran it. He first irritated Gorbachev when, in 1987, he asked Gorbachev to be allowed to resign from his position as Moscow party boss – on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the October revolution, an event Gorbachev wanted to celebrate with an image of unity. Just as the first three years of Gorbachev’s time as Soviet leader illustrated the occasional importance of an individual in history, the same was true of the last two years. Gorbachev summoned a special party conference in June 1988 and persuaded it to accept the idea of a new elected chamber. He was now close to the seat of power himself, and the youngest member of an increasingly ageing team of men. He decided to become more open about the problems of Soviet society, travelling the country, admitting to difficulties and listening to ordinary people complain. Gorbachev was aware that a swath of younger people in the middle ranks of the party’s central apparatus in Moscow – as well as in the academic institutes – thought like him. Gorbachev was not alone in failing to predict the demise of the communist system. As late as 1988 – only three years before the end – Yeltsin was pleading with the Communist party to “rehabilitate” him and give him another chance after he had resigned from the politburo. It was not the objective he set himself when he was elected general secretary of the Soviet Communist party in March 1985, nor did he predict or plan the way the cold war would end, the haemorrhaging of the Communist party, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from eastern Europe, the reunification of Germany or the break-up of the Soviet Union itself.

Last leader of Soviet Union passes away after long illness.

[Mikhail Gorbachev](/topic/mikhail-gorbachev), a one-of-a kind statesman who changed the course of history. Almost immediately, Gorbachev was confronted with a crisis, in the form of the Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster in Ukraine in April 1986. As it was, Reagan and Gorbachev had already met, in October 1986 at the Reykjavík Summit. There is nothing more precious in the world than human lives.“ When Leonid Brezhnev died in 1982, there was demand from some quarters for a younger leader, but instead the authorities backed two other older men, Yuri Andropov, and then another of Gorbachev's mentors, Konstantin Chernenko. It was there that he met his wife, Raisa Maximovna Titorenko, and joined the Communist Party. When Chernenko died in 1985, Gorbachev was selected to lead the country. “As for the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy. Unlike many boys in the village, when the war was over Gorbachev’s father returned. Speaking in Red Square this May on Russia’s traditional Victory Day, the day Soviet forces help defeat the Nazis in World War II, Putin said: “Russia called on the West for an honest dialogue, to search for reasonable, compromise solutions, to take into account each other's interests. In 1990, for instance, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1991, he survived a coup attempt.

"In a time of Putin's aggression in Ukraine, his tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all," British Prime Minister ...

He played the critical role in a peaceful conclusion of the Cold War by his decision against using force to hold the empire together.” “A new, more peaceful and promising world seemed to be on the horizon,” Phillips said. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who met Gorbachev both in Russia and the United States, described him as “a bold leader who was unafraid to confront reality.” [Putin expressed condolences](https://www.reuters.com/world/russias-putin-expresses-deepest-condolences-death-gorbachev-interfax-2022-08-30/) following Gorbachev’s death, according to a [statement reportedly sent](https://www.reuters.com/world/russias-putin-expresses-deepest-condolences-death-gorbachev-interfax-2022-08-30/) to Russian news agency Interfax. Other leaders contrasted Putin with Gorbachev in their condolence messages. [Gorbachev’s death Tuesday](https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/30/mikhail-gorbachev-soviet-union-cold-war-obit-035311).

Mikhail Gorbachev, who has died aged 91, was the last leader of the Soviet Union and its first and last state president. Although he ruled in Moscow for ...

[Purchase a Team or Enterprise subscription for per week You will be billed per month after the trial ends](https://enterprise.ft.com/en-gb/services/group-subscriptions/group-contact-us/b/?barrierName=anon_barrier&segmentId=9fbe4fe1-9315-3d67-cc6d-2bc7650c4aea&ft-content-uuid=6493bdf9-bdd7-4e73-a8e3-484c00f068fa) [Purchase a Print subscription for 11,12 € per week You will be billed 107,91 € per month after the trial ends](https://subs.ft.com/spa3_uk3m?segmentId=461cfe95-f454-6e0b-9f7b-0800950bef25&utm_us=JJIBAX&utm_eu=WWIBEAX&utm_ca=JJIBAZ&utm_as=FIBAZ&ft-content-uuid=6493bdf9-bdd7-4e73-a8e3-484c00f068fa) [Purchase a Digital subscription for 6,64 € per week You will be billed 39 € per month after the trial ends](https://subs.ft.com/spa3_digital?ft-content-uuid=6493bdf9-bdd7-4e73-a8e3-484c00f068fa)

Towering figure of 20th century reportedly fought 'serious and long illness' in Moscow.

The year is 1997, six years after the end of the [Soviet Union](https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/soviet-union), and the leader who oversaw its dissolution is in Moscow’s Red Square to star in one of the strangest television adverts ever produced. “Because of him we have opportunity!” fires back the younger of the pair, perhaps his son. Kevin E G Perry looks back at how Mikhail Gorbachev came to embody the triumph of capitalism “Because of him we have economic confusion!” claims a dour, middle-aged man. [Terms of use,](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/user-policies-a6184151.html) [Cookie policy](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/cookie-policy-a6184186.html) and [Privacy notice.](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/privacy-policy-a6184181.html) [Privacy policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en) and [Terms of service](https://policies.google.com/terms?hl=en) apply. “Because of him, we have many things ... The ad features Russians seated at a Pizza Hut discussing politics. [greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/30/world/europe/mikhail-gorbachev-dead.html).” [How Mikhail Gorbachev changed the world forever](https://www.independent.co.uk/world/mikhail-gorbachev-death-soviet-union-russia-b2156195.html) [Mikhail Gorbachev](https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/mikhail-gorbachev), a man widely lauded in the West for reforms that changed the world but were often condemned at home, [has died](https://www.independent.co.uk/world/mikhail-gorbachev-dead-soviet-union-b2156117.html) at the age of 91. [California](https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/california) governor [Arnold Schwarzenegger](https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/arnold-schwarzenegger) joined legions of world leaders in paying tribute to former Soviet leader [Mikhail Gorbachev](https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/mikhail-gorbachev), who [was reported dead on Tuesday at age 91](https://www.independent.co.uk/world/mikhail-gorbachev-death-soviet-today-news-b2156140.html).

The actor and former bodybuilder said the Russian politician 'belongs to history' and that he was 'unbelievably lucky' to have called him a…

“When you see a chance to make an impact, to leave a better world for the next generation, I hope you’ll think about Gorbachev and ask yourself, ‘If not me, who? “Mikhail Gorbachev did exactly that in the old Soviet Union. I was unbelievably lucky to call him a friend.

Russian news agencies report death of last leader of Soviet Union at Central clinical hospital in Moscow.

In August 1991, a group of ultra-conservatives seized power in a coup while Gorbachev was on holiday in the Crimea. In Russia he was largely reviled and unloved, an unperson at best, a traitor at worst. The man who brought it to an end was Boris Yeltsin, the newly elected president of the Russian Federation. Abroad, he was viewed as the hero of the cold war, whose actions – or lack of them – ushered in a freer world. [Green Cross International](http://www.gcint.org/who-we-are/our-history/), which focused on the toxic nuclear and environmental legacy of the cold war. He approved Putin’s revisionist policy in foreign affairs, including Russia’s 2008 war in Georgia, and the 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. Gorbachev was the the first and last president of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev had barely commented on the war publicly, beyond his foundation making an early call for “an early cessation of hostilities and immediate start of peace negotiations.” He was banned from the country for five years for his remarks. And in summer 1989, he said that Communist countries were free to determine their own internal affairs. It was Gorbachev’s reluctance to use force solutions that would later earn him the Nobel peace prize. With it was glasnost or openness, a concept encompassing liberalism and pluralism after decades of censorship and official lies.

Mr Gorbachev's crowning achievement is seen by the West as ending the Cold War without bloodshed, but he failed to prevent the break-up of the Soviet Union ...

And it would have immediately pushed the country into a civil war," he said. The result was a safer world and greater freedom for millions of people." His efforts earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. He tweeted he "always admired the courage and integrity he showed in bringing the Cold War to a peaceful conclusion". It led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany. "As leader of the USSR, he worked with President Reagan to reduce our two countries' nuclear arsenals, to the relief of people worldwide praying for an end to the nuclear arms race," said Mr Biden in a

“In a time of Putin's aggression in Ukraine, his tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all,” Boris Johnson said.

Sharing a photograph of the pair together, former California governor and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger said: “There’s an old saying, “Never meet your heroes.” I think that’s some of the worst advice I’ve ever heard. Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger said Mikhail Gorbachev “performed great services” but was “not able to implement all of his visions”. However he is reviled by Russian nationalists for bringing about the collapse of the Soviet Union. “He will forever be remembered as the last leader of the Soviet Union who had the courage and conviction to end the Cold War.” “ US President Joe Biden said Mr Gorbachev was a “man of remarkable vision” and a “rare leader” who had “the imagination to see that a different future was possible and the courage to risk his entire career to achieve it.

Mikhail Gorbachev -- the last leader of the former Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991 -- has died at the age of 91.

But to the end, Gorbachev was a leader more respected in other countries than at home. "All the agreements that are there are preserved and not destroyed," he said. The ultimate goal of arms control, he added, must be to get rid of nuclear weapons completely. In an interview with CNN in 2019, Gorbachev said the US and Russia must strive to avoid a "New Cold War" developing despite worsening tensions. Previously, he had established the Green Cross -- to deal with ecological issues -- and the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Studies, or Gorbachev Foundation. in 2012 that he agreed Russian democracy was "alive" but added: "That it is 'well'... He also seemed to have had a blind spot for the power of the nationality issue: Glasnost created ever-louder calls for independence from the Baltics and other Soviet republics in the late 1980s. In later life, Gorbachev said he was "particularly proud of my ability to detect a fault in the combine instantly, just by the sound of it." The central point in our lives is gone," he said. In 1986, face to face with American President Ronald Reagan at a summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, Gorbachev made a stunning proposal: eliminate all long-range missiles held by the United States and the Soviet Union. He spoke about cooperating with me, working with me on a new union treaty, he signed the draft union treaty, initialed that treaty. As he came to realize, the collective system was fundamentally flawed in more than one way.

Mr Gorbachev is best known for opening up the USSR and for bringing the Cold War to a peaceful end, but he was unable to prevent his country collapsing in ...

His former allies deserted him and made him a scapegoat for the country’s troubles. Yet Gorbachev may have had a greater impact on the second half of the 20th century than any other political figure. “Tomorrow he will send a telegram of condolences to his family and friends.” And it would have immediately pushed the country into a civil war,” he said. Russians blamed him for the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union — a once-fearsome superpower whose territory fractured into 15 separate nations. It was when he visited Britain in 1984, four months before he assumed power, that she said: “I like Mr Gorbachev. “He played a crucial role to end the Cold War and bring down the Iron Curtain. Though in power less than seven years, Gorbachev, who came into office in 1985, made a series of significant changes. I was unbelievably lucky to call him a friend. When you look at what he did to make Europe whole, free, to give freedom to the countries of the former Soviet Union - it was quite an extraordinary thing. His commitment to peace in Europe changed our shared history.” It opened the way for a free Europe.

The prime minister joined political figures from around the globe in praising the pivotal contribution the former Soviet leader made in ending the Cold War in ...

Now more than ever, this legacy of cooperation and peace must prevail.” In a tweet, he said: “One of the great figures of the 20th Century, Mikhail Gorbachev’s pursuit of reform forged a path for diplomacy over conflict. “And what I worry about today is that the current leadership in Moscow is intent on undoing the good of Mikhail Gorbachev, and is intent on a revanchist attempt, a revenge driven attempt, to recreate that Soviet empire, and you’re seeing that in Ukraine.

Boris Johnson has warned that the Kremlin is 'intent on undoing the good' of Mikhail Gorbachev.

[Terms of use,](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/user-policies-a6184151.html) [Cookie policy](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/cookie-policy-a6184186.html) and [Privacy notice.](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/privacy-policy-a6184181.html) [Privacy policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en) and [Terms of service](https://policies.google.com/terms?hl=en) apply. Mr Kissinger, after again acknowledging that Mr Gorbachev was unable able to implement his full vision, added: “He will still be remembered in history as a man who started historic transformations that were to the benefit of mankind and to the Russian people.” “He will forever be remembered as the last leader of the Soviet Union who had the courage and conviction to end the Cold War.” Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger said Mr Gorbachev “performed great services” but was “not able to implement all of his visions”, telling BBC’s Newsnight: “The people of eastern Europe and the German people, and in the end the Russian people, owe him a great debt of gratitude for the inspiration, for the courage in coming forward with these ideas of freedom.” “At a time when the threat to the world of nuclear destruction was very real, he saw the urgent need for rapprochement with the West and for greater openness and reform – glasnost and perestroika – in the then Soviet Union. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Gorbachev was “one of the great figures” of last century who will “forever be remembered”. The Prime Minister said: “Mikhail Gorbachev is one of those people who changed the world and unquestionably changed it for the better. “And of course Mikhail Gorbachev is one of those people who triggered a change, a series of changes, that perhaps he didn’t anticipate. [Boris Johnson](/topic/boris-johnson) has warned that the [Kremlin](/topic/kremlin) is “intent on undoing the good” of [Mikhail Gorbachev](/topic/mikhail-gorbachev), as he paid a warm tribute to the legacy of the former Soviet leader. [Russia](/topic/russia) and the West since the end of the Cold War. Mr Johnson, speaking in Lewisham in south-east London on Wednesday, used the death of Mr Gorbachev to warn of the “revenge-driven” threat posed by Vladimir Putin as he accused Russia’s leaders of attempting to recreate the Soviet Union.

The 91-year-old died on Tuesday after a long illness, which he had had been undergoing treatment for at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow.

And it would have immediately pushed the country into a civil war," he said. "These were the acts of a rare leader. His efforts earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. who will always remain in the history of our country". In a tweet, he wrote that he "always admired the courage and integrity he showed in bringing the Cold War to a peaceful conclusion". "As leader of the USSR, he worked with President Reagan to reduce our two countries' nuclear arsenals, to the relief of people worldwide praying for an end to the nuclear arms race," he said in a

William Taubman, the author of Gorbachev: His Life and Times, is also the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Khrushchev: The Man and His Era. Mikhail Gorbachev ...

Still, Gorbachev facilitated our meetings with current and former aides in Moscow and in Stavropol, the southern city where he climbed the ladder of the party apparatus, and our visit to Privolnoye, the village where he was born. During a later interview, I was surprised when Gorbachev said he didn’t tell his wife he was about to become Soviet leader until the night before he was anointed. He seemed to enjoy the fact that Jane and I worked together; still in love with Raisa, he always respected women, unlike most of Russia’s leaders, particularly the current one. No more!” At which point she burst into tears because, he added, “I was the last thing she could control and now that was gone.” We expected him to have his own interpreter present (though Jane and I are fluent in Russian), but he didn’t. I was shocked when he volunteered the story about how his mother often whipped him with a belt him until, at age 13, he grabbed it, tore it from her, and said, “That’s it! Kissing her three times on alternative cheeks with a twinkle in his eye, he pronounced in Old Church Slavonic, “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.” Jane wasn’t quite sure whether the former leader of Godless Communist Russia was teasing her, or not. We expected Gorbachev to demand that we submit our questions in writing before the interviews, but he never did. I later witnessed Gorbachev’s attempts to make his country and the world a better and more decent place through his programs of perestroika and glasnost. But I started to get to know the man when I met him in 2005, more than a decade after he was forced to resign as the USSR’s first and last president. He tried to reform the USSR, eventually to democratize it, but was overwhelmed by the people and forces he freed. But rather than ask Gorbachev’s permission to undertake his biography (for fear he would say no), I told him I was doing it and requested his cooperation.

Boris Johnson has warned that the Kremlin is 'intent on undoing the good' of Mikhail Gorbachev.

When you look at what he did to make Europe whole, free, to give freedom to the countries of the former Soviet Union – it was quite an extraordinary thing. [Terms of use,](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/user-policies-a6184151.html) [Cookie policy](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/cookie-policy-a6184186.html) and [Privacy notice.](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/privacy-policy-a6184181.html) [Privacy policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en) and [Terms of service](https://policies.google.com/terms?hl=en) apply. Mr Kissinger, after again acknowledging that Mr Gorbachev was unable able to implement his full vision, added: “He will still be remembered in history as a man who started historic transformations that were to the benefit of mankind and to the Russian people.” “He will forever be remembered as the last leader of the Soviet Union who had the courage and conviction to end the Cold War.” Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger said Mr Gorbachev “performed great services” but was “not able to implement all of his visions”, telling BBC’s Newsnight: “The people of eastern Europe and the German people, and in the end the Russian people, owe him a great debt of gratitude for the inspiration, for the courage in coming forward with these ideas of freedom.” “At a time when the threat to the world of nuclear destruction was very real, he saw the urgent need for rapprochement with the West and for greater openness and reform – glasnost and perestroika – in the then Soviet Union. “And what I worry about today is that the current leadership in Moscow is intent on undoing the good of Mikhail Gorbachev, and is intent on a revanchist attempt, a revenge-driven attempt, to recreate that Soviet empire, and you’re seeing that in Ukraine – that’s the tragedy, something that Mikhail Gorbachev would have thought was absolutely unthinkable, unwarranted.” Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Gorbachev was “one of the great figures” of the last century who will “forever be remembered”. [Boris Johnson](/topic/boris-johnson) has warned that the [Kremlin](/topic/kremlin) is “intent on undoing the good” of [Mikhail Gorbachev](/topic/mikhail-gorbachev), as he paid a warm tribute to the legacy of the former Soviet leader. The Prime Minister said: “Mikhail Gorbachev is one of those people who changed the world and unquestionably changed it for the better. [Russia](/topic/russia) and the West since the end of the Cold War.

Russian president pays tribute to ex-Soviet leader but no decision yet on whether he will get state funeral.

Putin had a strained relationship with Gorbachev, who initiated policies that ultimately led to the fall of the Soviet Union. No romantic period and ‘century of honey’ took place. “He led our country over the period of complex, dramatic transformations and extensive foreign political, economic, and social challenges.