Mikhail Gorbachev, the former President of the United Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR who ended the Cold War with the West, without bloodshed but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, is dead.
Hospital officials in Moscow where the former Soviet leader said he died at the age of 91.
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.
But his internal reforms helped weaken the Soviet Union to the point where it fell apart, a moment that President Vladimir Putin has called the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the twentieth century.
“Mikhail Gorbachev passed away tonight after a serious and protracted disease,” said Russia’s Central Clinical Hospital.
Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin of Russia has expressed “his deepest condolences”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Interfax, adding that “tomorrow he will send a telegram of condolences to his family and friends”.
Reuters
