Mikhail Gorbachev who ended the Cold War dies aged 91
Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War without bloodshed but was unable to avert the fall of the Soviet Union, passed away on Tuesday in Moscow. He was 92.
Gorbachev, the last Soviet president, secured armaments reduction accords with the United States and collaborations with Western nations to bring about the reunification of Germany and the removal of the Iron Curtain that had divided Europe since World War II.
In 1985, when he became general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party at the age of 54, he intended to revitalize the system by providing limited political and economic freedoms, but his reforms quickly spiraled out of control.
Mikhail Gorbachev who ended the Cold War dies aged 92
His doctrine of glasnost — freedom of expression — permitted hitherto unimaginable criticism of the party and the state, but also strengthened nationalists who began to press for independence in the Baltic republics of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, among others.
Many Russians never forgave Gorbachev for the unrest his reforms caused, thinking the following decline in their level of living to be too steep a price to pay for democracy.
Mikhail Gorbachev was a trusted and respected leader. He played a crucial role to end the Cold War and bring down the Iron Curtain. It opened the way for a free Europe.
This legacy is one we will not forget.
R.I.P Mikhail Gorbachev
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) August 30, 2022
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