Mikhail Gorbachev died in Moscow at the age of 91. Image: Twitter
Former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev has died in Moscow at the age of 91.
His death was announced on Tuesday by Russian news agencies, which said Gorbachev had died at a central hospital “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.
A number of world leaders have shared their condolences and poured tributes to the late Gorbachev.
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In a statement, US President Joe Biden credited Gorbachev with having “the imagination to see that a different future was possible and the courage to risk his entire career to achieve it”.
“The result was a safer world and greater freedom for millions of people,” he added.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, meanwhile, said he “always admired the courage and integrity” Gorbachev showed in bringing the Cold War to a peaceful conclusion.
“In a time of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, his tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all,” he said in a Twitter post.
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres 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”.
French President Emmanuel Macron praised him as a “man of peace whose choices opened up a path of liberty for Russians. His commitment to peace in Europe changed our shared history.”
AFP reports that 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 spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies.
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In an interview with Larry King on CNN when asked how he would like to be remembered, Gorbachev replied, “History is a capricious lady but I hope that it will judge me fairly”.
A source close to the Gorbachev family told news agency TASS that he would be buried next to Raisa at Moscow’s Novodevichy cemetery, the resting place of many other famous Russian figures, including Yeltsin.
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