Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet Leader Who Ended Cold War, Dies At 91

Mikhail Gorbachev, who changed the direction of history by triggering the collapse of the Soviet Union and was one of the major figures of the 20th century, had died in Moscow 91 years old.
His death was announced on Tuesday by the Russian News Agency, which said Gorbachev had died at the Central Hospital in Moscow “After a serious and Long Disease”.

Gorbachev, who was in power between 1985 and 1991, helped bring As-Soviet relations from deep freezing and the last Cold War leader.

His life is one of the most influential from his time, and his reform as a Soviet leader changed his country and allowed Eastern Europe to free himself from the Soviet government.

The change he began to make him a lion in the West – he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 – but also gave him ridicule from many Russians who regretted the end of their country as a global superpower.

He spent a lot from the last two decades on the political outskirts, briefly calling for Kremlin and the White House to improve relations when tension jumped to the cold war level after Russia expressed Crimea in 2014 and launched an attack in Ukraine earlier this year.

‘One-of-a-kind’

His relationship with President Vladimir Putin is sometimes difficult, but Russian leaders still declare “his deep sympathy” after Gorbachev’s death.

“In the morning (Putin) will send condolences to his family and friends,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian news agency.

Gorbachev spent in deep dusk years and discharged from the hospital with increasingly fragile health and observed himself during the Pandemic as a precaution of Coronavirus.

Gorbachev is considered unfortunately in the West, where it is called Gorby and is famous for relieving the US-Soviet nuclear tension in the 1980s and brought Eastern Europe out from behind the iron curtain.

He won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the historic nuclear weapons pact with US leader Ronald Reagan, and his decision to hold the Soviet army when the Berlin Wall fell a year before being seen as the key to maintaining the peace of the Cold War.

He was also fought for in the West to pioneer reforms to achieve larger transparency and public discussion that accelerated the separation of the Soviet Empire.

UN Head Antonio Guterres praised Gorbachev as “a unique statesman who changed the direction of history” and “did more than other individuals to realize the end of a peaceful cold war”.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he “always admired the courage and integrity” Gorbachev showed to bring the Cold War to a peaceful conclusion.

“In Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, his tireless commitment to open the Soviet society remain an example for all of us,” he said in a Twitter post.

‘Man of peace’

French President Emmanuel Macron praised him as “a peaceful human whose choice to open the way of freedom for Russia. His commitment to peace in Europe changed history with us.”

The first Russian leader who lived past the age of 90, he was survived by world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel on his 90th birthday.

At home, Gorbachev remains a controversial figure and has a difficult relationship with Putin.

For Putin and many Russians, the Soviet Union’s separation was a tragedy, carrying a decade of mass poverty and weakening Russia’s status on the global stage.

Many Russians still look back affectionate in the Soviet period, and Putin relies on his achievements to support Russian claims of the greatness and prestige itself.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, Gorbachev was replaced by the younger Boris Yeltsin, who became the first president of Russia post-Soviet.

Since then, Gorbachev was revealed to between, devoted itself to educational and humanitarian projects.

He made a disaster effort to return to politics and nominate himself as president in 1996 but received only 0.5 percent of the votes.

Over the years he saw many of his main achievements played again by Putin.

Supporter of free press

A leader of the leading independent newspaper Russia Novaya Gazeta, which was founded in 1993, he donated part of his Nobeling victory to help him buy his first computer.

But the newspaper, like Russian independent media on all boards, was under pressure that increased during the reign of Putin two decades.

Novaya Gazeta, whose head of the editor Dmitry Muratov last year won the Nobel Peace Prize, suspended publication at the end of March after Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine.

Gorbachev itself did not make a public statement about Russian military action in Ukraine, even though the foundation called for “Early Termination Hostility and started immediate peace negotiations”.

Unique among the Soviet leaders, Gorbachev did not keep his relationship a secret and supported his wife Raisa, an elegant woman who often appeared in public with him and the premature death due to cancer was a destroying blow.

A source close to the Gorbachev family told the Tass News Agency that he would be buried next to Raisa at the funeral of Novodevichy Moscow, a resting place for many other famous Russian figures, including Yeltsin.