The final president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, passed away at age 91 in Moscow, according to Russian news organizations.
Interfax, TASS, and RIA Novosti cited the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow as saying, “Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev died this evening after a terrible and long illness.”
The final living leader of the Cold War, Gorbachev served as president from 1985 to 1991 and was instrumental in thawing icy relations between the US and the Soviet Union.
Gorbachev’s health became more precarious in his latter years, and he spent much of the epidemic in self-quarantine to protect himself from the coronavirus.
In the West, Gorbachev was well-liked and affectionately known by the nickname Gorby. He is best remembered for easing nuclear tensions between the US and the Soviet Union in the 1980s and releasing Eastern Europe from the Iron Curtain.
When the Berlin Wall fell a year earlier, his decision to restrain the Soviet army was viewed as essential to maintaining Cold War calm. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for negotiating a historic nuclear armaments accord with US President Ronald Reagan.
He was also praised in the West for initiating changes that led to increased transparency and public discourse and accelerated the dissolution of the Soviet empire.
At home, Gorbachev continued to be a divisive figure and struggled to get along with Putin.
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, which brought about a decade of widespread hardship and a decline in Russia’s prestige on the international scene, was tragic for Putin and many Russians.
Putin relies on the accomplishments of the Soviet era to support Russia’s claim to greatness and his own status. Many Russians still have good memories of the Soviet era.
He will be buried next to his wife Raisa, who passed away in 1999, in Moscow’s Novodevichy Cemetery, according to Tass news agency, which cited the foundation the former Soviet leader established after leaving office.