Mikhail Gorbachev death – latest: Transformative Soviet leader dies aged 91

Alex Woodward
·3 min read
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Russian news agencies have announced the death of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, citing a statement from Moscow’s Central Clinical Hospital, where he was undergoing treatment.

Agencies reported his death on 30 August following a “serious and long illness”.

He was 91.

Gorbachev – a towering figure in 20th century history whose rise to power transformed the map of Europe and steered the Cold War to its end – was the last president before the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, as he foreged relationships with the United States to lift the Iron Curtion and unite Germany in the long shadow of World War II.

He presided over an era of perestoika and glasnost as reforms sparked pro-democracy protests across communist bloc nations in the late 1980s, fuelling the dissolution of the 15 Republicans of the Soviet Union.

Boris Johnson: Gorbachev’s ‘tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all’ in wake of Putin’s assault

22:45 , Alex Woodward

“I’m saddened to hear of the death of Gorbachev,” Boris Johnson wrote in a statement on Twitter following news of the former Soviet leader’s death.

“I always admired the courage [and] integrity he showed in bringing the Cold War to a peaceful conclusion,” he said. “In a time of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, his tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all.”

Breaking news: Vladimir Putin expresses ‘deepest condolences’ after death of Mikhail Gorbachev

22:41 , Alex Woodward

Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his deepest condolences following the death of Mikhail Gorbachev, according to a statement from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Vladimir Putin expresses ‘deepest condolences’ after death of Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev: Soviet Union’s final president who changed world history

22:36 , Alex Woodward

The Independent’s obituary for the transformative Soviet leader charts his meteoric rise within the Communist Party to the disentegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Paul Vallely writes:

It was not his intention to bring about the collapse of one of the great empires of the 20th century. He wanted to reform Russian communism and modernise it – with a speed and scale which startled both friends and foes alike all across the world.

But his efforts to democratise his country’s political system, and decentralise its economy, set in process events which led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the break-up of the Soviet Union and the collapse of communism as a global force.

Mikhail Gorbachev: Soviet Union’s final president who changed world history

On 30th anniversary of failed 1991 coup, Gorbachev defends ‘democratic path’ for Russia

22:27 , Alex Woodward

On the 30th anniversary of a coup that failed to stop democratic reforms in the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev urged Russian society to stand against “usurping power.”

In a statement last year through his Gorbachev Foundation, he wrote: “To stand for democratic principles and rule of law, exclude any possibility for usurping power or inconsiderate actions, that is what the society and state must be responsible for.”

He added: “I believe that the democratic path of Russia’s development is the only correct one, that only on this path can our country develop and solve any problems.”

Gorbachev will be buried next to wife Raisa in Moscow: reports

22:20 , Alex Woodward

Gorbachev will be buried in Moscow’s Novodevichy Cemetery next to his wife Raisa, who died in 1999, according to Russian new agencies.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, dies aged 91

22:18 , Alex Woodward

Mikhail Gorbachev, the former leader of the USSR who helped end the Cold War but could not prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, has died, according to Russian media reports.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, dies aged 91