Mikhail Gorbachev Soviet Leader Who Ended Cold War Dies Aged 91 Mikhail Gorbachev

Celebrated abroad as the savior who brought freedom to millions of Soviet citizens, he was often blamed at home for the chaotic years that followed and survived long enough to watch Russia return to autocracy under the rule of Vladimir Putin. Gorbachev, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990, died after a “difficult and prolonged illness,” Russian news agencies reported Tuesday, citing hospital officials. Recent reports suggest that he was suffering from a kidney condition. Gorbachev was the first and last president of the Soviet Union. He became general secretary of the Communist Party in 1985, aged just 53, a position he held until the party itself dissolved in 1991, with the Soviet Union disintegrating soon after. It will be associated with his efforts to modernize and improve the Soviet Union, a process that eventually spiraled out of control, leading to the country’s collapse. He told the Guardian in 2011 that one of his proudest achievements was the policy of perestroika – restructuring – designed to revive a moribund economy and bring about change. With it was glasnost, or openness, a concept that encapsulates liberalism and pluralism after decades of censorship and official lies. In addition to domestic reform, Gorbachev ushered in a new era of recession with the West. He survived to see that period of cooperation decisively end with Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia’s return to international isolation. He had avoided commenting publicly on the war, either out of deference to the Kremlin or fear of a backlash. But Alexei Venediktov, a friend and former head of radio station Ekho Moskvy, recently said Gorbachev was “upset” in private and suggested his “life’s work” had been “ruined”. It was Gorbachev’s reluctance to use violent solutions that would later earn him the Nobel Peace Prize. He rejected the Brezhnev Doctrine, which reserved for Moscow the right to crush dissent within Warsaw Pact client states. He also made connections with world leaders. He got on famously with Margaret Thatcher, meeting her for the first time in 1984 during a Soviet parliamentary visit to the UK. Thatcher enjoyed her meetings with Gorbachev. After a series of short-lived geronts, Thatcher said of Moscow’s new, upwardly mobile prime minister: “We can do business together.” Gorbachev also agreed with Ronald Reagan, with whom he agreed in 1986 to reduce intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe. In 1987, Reagan famously urged him during a speech at the UN to “tear down that wall!” The following year, Gorbachev withdrew troops from the Soviet disaster in Afghanistan. Ronald Reagan, left, and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev enjoy a moment at Reagan’s Rancho del Cielo in California. Photo: Bob Galbraith/AP And in the summer of 1989, he said that communist countries were free to determine their own internal affairs. They did, in a series of mostly peaceful revolutions that swept through Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and – most violently – Romania. At home, Gorbachev struggled to control secessionist claims from the republics of his empire: the Baltic states, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia. This was a bloodier affair. By 1990-91, the communist party’s grip was slipping. Gorbachev’s own position was also growing crazier, as hardliners tried to arrest the nascent collapse of the Soviet Union. In August 1991, a group of ultraconservatives seized power in a coup while Gorbachev was on vacation in Crimea. Their reign lasted three days. The man who brought it to an end was Boris Yeltsin, the newly elected president of the Russian Federation. Gorbachev remained in power until late 1991, presiding over the rapid collapse of the Soviet Union as successive republics, including Ukraine, voted for independence. He retired from politics on December 27. After visiting Gorbachev in hospital on June 30, liberal economist Ruslan Grinberg told the armed forces news agency Zvezda: “He gave us all the freedom – but we don’t know what to do with it.” Outside of office, Gorbachev founded a charity, Green Cross International, which focused on the toxic nuclear and environmental legacy of the Cold War. He made several attempts to return to politics, including a comeback attempt in the 1996 presidential election. All were unsuccessful. The Soviet hardliners may have been defeated, but by 2000 it was their protégé – an unsmiling ex-KGB spy named Vladimir Putin – who was in the Kremlin. Gorbachev’s relationship with Putin was mixed. He endorsed Putin’s revisionist foreign policy, including Russia’s 2008 war in Georgia and its 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. But Gorbachev took a dim view of Putin’s slow, systematic crushing of civil society. In several notable speeches he accused him of turning the United Russia party into a bad copy of the Communist Party and of blatant authoritarianism. “He believes that democracy stands in his way,” Gorbachev said of Putin in 2010. For their part, Russia’s state media cast Gorbachev in the role of the enemy. He has been variously portrayed as a CIA mastermind and the man responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union – “the biggest political disaster of the 20th century”, as Putin put it. Mostly, she ignored him. In his later years, when he was an active campaigner for charity after the death of his wife Raisa from cancer, Gorbachev was a paradoxical figure. Abroad, he was seen as a Cold War hero whose actions – or lack thereof – led to a freer world. In Russia he was widely reviled and disliked, at best a traitor, at worst.

title: “Mikhail Gorbachev Soviet Leader Who Ended Cold War Dies Aged 91 Mikhail Gorbachev Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-28” author: “Tequila Gilder”

Celebrated abroad as the savior who brought freedom to millions of Soviet citizens, he was often blamed at home for the chaotic years that followed and survived long enough to watch Russia return to autocracy under the rule of Vladimir Putin. Gorbachev, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990, died after a “difficult and prolonged illness,” Russian news agencies reported Tuesday, citing hospital officials. Recent reports suggest that he was suffering from a kidney condition. Gorbachev was the first and last president of the Soviet Union. He became general secretary of the Communist Party in 1985, aged just 53, a position he held until the party itself dissolved in 1991, with the Soviet Union disintegrating soon after. It will be associated with his efforts to modernize and improve the Soviet Union, a process that eventually spiraled out of control, leading to the country’s collapse. He told the Guardian in 2011 that one of his proudest achievements was the policy of perestroika – restructuring – designed to revive a moribund economy and bring about change. With it was glasnost, or openness, a concept that encapsulates liberalism and pluralism after decades of censorship and official lies. In addition to domestic reform, Gorbachev ushered in a new era of recession with the West. He survived to see that period of cooperation decisively end with Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia’s return to international isolation. He had avoided commenting publicly on the war, either out of deference to the Kremlin or fear of a backlash. But Alexei Venediktov, a friend and former head of radio station Ekho Moskvy, recently said Gorbachev was “upset” in private and suggested his “life’s work” had been “ruined”. It was Gorbachev’s reluctance to use violent solutions that would later earn him the Nobel Peace Prize. He rejected the Brezhnev Doctrine, which reserved for Moscow the right to crush dissent within Warsaw Pact client states. He also made connections with world leaders. He got on famously with Margaret Thatcher, meeting her for the first time in 1984 during a Soviet parliamentary visit to the UK. Thatcher enjoyed her meetings with Gorbachev. After a series of short-lived geronts, Thatcher said of Moscow’s new, upwardly mobile prime minister: “We can do business together.” Gorbachev also agreed with Ronald Reagan, with whom he agreed in 1986 to reduce intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe. In 1987, Reagan famously urged him during a speech at the UN to “tear down that wall!” The following year, Gorbachev withdrew troops from the Soviet disaster in Afghanistan. Ronald Reagan, left, and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev enjoy a moment at Reagan’s Rancho del Cielo in California. Photo: Bob Galbraith/AP And in the summer of 1989, he said that communist countries were free to determine their own internal affairs. They did, in a series of mostly peaceful revolutions that swept through Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and – most violently – Romania. At home, Gorbachev struggled to control secessionist claims from the republics of his empire: the Baltic states, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia. This was a bloodier affair. By 1990-91, the communist party’s grip was slipping. Gorbachev’s own position was also growing crazier, as hardliners tried to arrest the nascent collapse of the Soviet Union. In August 1991, a group of ultraconservatives seized power in a coup while Gorbachev was on vacation in Crimea. Their reign lasted three days. The man who brought it to an end was Boris Yeltsin, the newly elected president of the Russian Federation. Gorbachev remained in power until late 1991, presiding over the rapid collapse of the Soviet Union as successive republics, including Ukraine, voted for independence. He retired from politics on December 27. After visiting Gorbachev in hospital on June 30, liberal economist Ruslan Grinberg told the armed forces news agency Zvezda: “He gave us all the freedom – but we don’t know what to do with it.” Outside of office, Gorbachev founded a charity, Green Cross International, which focused on the toxic nuclear and environmental legacy of the Cold War. He made several attempts to return to politics, including a comeback attempt in the 1996 presidential election. All were unsuccessful. The Soviet hardliners may have been defeated, but by 2000 it was their protégé – an unsmiling ex-KGB spy named Vladimir Putin – who was in the Kremlin. Gorbachev’s relationship with Putin was mixed. He endorsed Putin’s revisionist foreign policy, including Russia’s 2008 war in Georgia and its 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. But Gorbachev took a dim view of Putin’s slow, systematic crushing of civil society. In several notable speeches he accused him of turning the United Russia party into a bad copy of the Communist Party and of blatant authoritarianism. “He believes that democracy stands in his way,” Gorbachev said of Putin in 2010. For their part, Russia’s state media cast Gorbachev in the role of the enemy. He has been variously portrayed as a CIA mastermind and the man responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union – “the biggest political disaster of the 20th century”, as Putin put it. Mostly, she ignored him. In his later years, when he was an active campaigner for charity after the death of his wife Raisa from cancer, Gorbachev was a paradoxical figure. Abroad, he was seen as a Cold War hero whose actions – or lack thereof – led to a freer world. In Russia he was widely reviled and disliked, at best a traitor, at worst.

title: “Mikhail Gorbachev Soviet Leader Who Ended Cold War Dies Aged 91 Mikhail Gorbachev Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-23” author: “Willie Callaway”

Celebrated abroad as the savior who brought freedom to millions of Soviet citizens, he was often blamed at home for the chaotic years that followed and survived long enough to watch Russia return to autocracy under the rule of Vladimir Putin. Gorbachev, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990, died after a “difficult and prolonged illness,” Russian news agencies reported Tuesday, citing hospital officials. Recent reports suggest that he was suffering from a kidney condition. Gorbachev was the first and last president of the Soviet Union. He became general secretary of the Communist Party in 1985, aged just 53, a position he held until the party itself dissolved in 1991, with the Soviet Union disintegrating soon after. It will be associated with his efforts to modernize and improve the Soviet Union, a process that eventually spiraled out of control, leading to the country’s collapse. He told the Guardian in 2011 that one of his proudest achievements was the policy of perestroika – restructuring – designed to revive a moribund economy and bring about change. With it was glasnost, or openness, a concept that encapsulates liberalism and pluralism after decades of censorship and official lies. In addition to domestic reform, Gorbachev ushered in a new era of recession with the West. He survived to see that period of cooperation decisively end with Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia’s return to international isolation. He had avoided commenting publicly on the war, either out of deference to the Kremlin or fear of a backlash. But Alexei Venediktov, a friend and former head of radio station Ekho Moskvy, recently said Gorbachev was “upset” in private and suggested his “life’s work” had been “ruined”. It was Gorbachev’s reluctance to use violent solutions that would later earn him the Nobel Peace Prize. He rejected the Brezhnev Doctrine, which reserved for Moscow the right to crush dissent within Warsaw Pact client states. He also made connections with world leaders. He got on famously with Margaret Thatcher, meeting her for the first time in 1984 during a Soviet parliamentary visit to the UK. Thatcher enjoyed her meetings with Gorbachev. After a series of short-lived geronts, Thatcher said of Moscow’s new, upwardly mobile prime minister: “We can do business together.” Gorbachev also agreed with Ronald Reagan, with whom he agreed in 1986 to reduce intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe. In 1987, Reagan famously urged him during a speech at the UN to “tear down that wall!” The following year, Gorbachev withdrew troops from the Soviet disaster in Afghanistan. Ronald Reagan, left, and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev enjoy a moment at Reagan’s Rancho del Cielo in California. Photo: Bob Galbraith/AP And in the summer of 1989, he said that communist countries were free to determine their own internal affairs. They did, in a series of mostly peaceful revolutions that swept through Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and – most violently – Romania. At home, Gorbachev struggled to control secessionist claims from the republics of his empire: the Baltic states, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia. This was a bloodier affair. By 1990-91, the communist party’s grip was slipping. Gorbachev’s own position was also growing crazier, as hardliners tried to arrest the nascent collapse of the Soviet Union. In August 1991, a group of ultraconservatives seized power in a coup while Gorbachev was on vacation in Crimea. Their reign lasted three days. The man who brought it to an end was Boris Yeltsin, the newly elected president of the Russian Federation. Gorbachev remained in power until late 1991, presiding over the rapid collapse of the Soviet Union as successive republics, including Ukraine, voted for independence. He retired from politics on December 27. After visiting Gorbachev in hospital on June 30, liberal economist Ruslan Grinberg told the armed forces news agency Zvezda: “He gave us all the freedom – but we don’t know what to do with it.” Outside of office, Gorbachev founded a charity, Green Cross International, which focused on the toxic nuclear and environmental legacy of the Cold War. He made several attempts to return to politics, including a comeback attempt in the 1996 presidential election. All were unsuccessful. The Soviet hardliners may have been defeated, but by 2000 it was their protégé – an unsmiling ex-KGB spy named Vladimir Putin – who was in the Kremlin. Gorbachev’s relationship with Putin was mixed. He endorsed Putin’s revisionist foreign policy, including Russia’s 2008 war in Georgia and its 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. But Gorbachev took a dim view of Putin’s slow, systematic crushing of civil society. In several notable speeches he accused him of turning the United Russia party into a bad copy of the Communist Party and of blatant authoritarianism. “He believes that democracy stands in his way,” Gorbachev said of Putin in 2010. For their part, Russia’s state media cast Gorbachev in the role of the enemy. He has been variously portrayed as a CIA mastermind and the man responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union – “the biggest political disaster of the 20th century”, as Putin put it. Mostly, she ignored him. In his later years, when he was an active campaigner for charity after the death of his wife Raisa from cancer, Gorbachev was a paradoxical figure. Abroad, he was seen as a Cold War hero whose actions – or lack thereof – led to a freer world. In Russia he was widely reviled and disliked, at best a traitor, at worst.

title: “Mikhail Gorbachev Soviet Leader Who Ended Cold War Dies Aged 91 Mikhail Gorbachev Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-27” author: “Kent Hill”

Celebrated abroad as the savior who brought freedom to millions of Soviet citizens, he was often blamed at home for the chaotic years that followed and survived long enough to watch Russia return to autocracy under the rule of Vladimir Putin. Gorbachev, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990, died after a “difficult and prolonged illness,” Russian news agencies reported Tuesday, citing hospital officials. Recent reports suggest that he was suffering from a kidney condition. Gorbachev was the first and last president of the Soviet Union. He became general secretary of the Communist Party in 1985, aged just 53, a position he held until the party itself dissolved in 1991, with the Soviet Union disintegrating soon after. It will be associated with his efforts to modernize and improve the Soviet Union, a process that eventually spiraled out of control, leading to the country’s collapse. He told the Guardian in 2011 that one of his proudest achievements was the policy of perestroika – restructuring – designed to revive a moribund economy and bring about change. With it was glasnost, or openness, a concept that encapsulates liberalism and pluralism after decades of censorship and official lies. In addition to domestic reform, Gorbachev ushered in a new era of recession with the West. He survived to see that period of cooperation decisively end with Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia’s return to international isolation. He had avoided commenting publicly on the war, either out of deference to the Kremlin or fear of a backlash. But Alexei Venediktov, a friend and former head of radio station Ekho Moskvy, recently said Gorbachev was “upset” in private and suggested his “life’s work” had been “ruined”. It was Gorbachev’s reluctance to use violent solutions that would later earn him the Nobel Peace Prize. He rejected the Brezhnev Doctrine, which reserved for Moscow the right to crush dissent within Warsaw Pact client states. He also made connections with world leaders. He got on famously with Margaret Thatcher, meeting her for the first time in 1984 during a Soviet parliamentary visit to the UK. Thatcher enjoyed her meetings with Gorbachev. After a series of short-lived geronts, Thatcher said of Moscow’s new, upwardly mobile prime minister: “We can do business together.” Gorbachev also agreed with Ronald Reagan, with whom he agreed in 1986 to reduce intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe. In 1987, Reagan famously urged him during a speech at the UN to “tear down that wall!” The following year, Gorbachev withdrew troops from the Soviet disaster in Afghanistan. Ronald Reagan, left, and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev enjoy a moment at Reagan’s Rancho del Cielo in California. Photo: Bob Galbraith/AP And in the summer of 1989, he said that communist countries were free to determine their own internal affairs. They did, in a series of mostly peaceful revolutions that swept through Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and – most violently – Romania. At home, Gorbachev struggled to control secessionist claims from the republics of his empire: the Baltic states, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia. This was a bloodier affair. By 1990-91, the communist party’s grip was slipping. Gorbachev’s own position was also growing crazier, as hardliners tried to arrest the nascent collapse of the Soviet Union. In August 1991, a group of ultraconservatives seized power in a coup while Gorbachev was on vacation in Crimea. Their reign lasted three days. The man who brought it to an end was Boris Yeltsin, the newly elected president of the Russian Federation. Gorbachev remained in power until late 1991, presiding over the rapid collapse of the Soviet Union as successive republics, including Ukraine, voted for independence. He retired from politics on December 27. After visiting Gorbachev in hospital on June 30, liberal economist Ruslan Grinberg told the armed forces news agency Zvezda: “He gave us all the freedom – but we don’t know what to do with it.” Outside of office, Gorbachev founded a charity, Green Cross International, which focused on the toxic nuclear and environmental legacy of the Cold War. He made several attempts to return to politics, including a comeback attempt in the 1996 presidential election. All were unsuccessful. The Soviet hardliners may have been defeated, but by 2000 it was their protégé – an unsmiling ex-KGB spy named Vladimir Putin – who was in the Kremlin. Gorbachev’s relationship with Putin was mixed. He endorsed Putin’s revisionist foreign policy, including Russia’s 2008 war in Georgia and its 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. But Gorbachev took a dim view of Putin’s slow, systematic crushing of civil society. In several notable speeches he accused him of turning the United Russia party into a bad copy of the Communist Party and of blatant authoritarianism. “He believes that democracy stands in his way,” Gorbachev said of Putin in 2010. For their part, Russia’s state media cast Gorbachev in the role of the enemy. He has been variously portrayed as a CIA mastermind and the man responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union – “the biggest political disaster of the 20th century”, as Putin put it. Mostly, she ignored him. In his later years, when he was an active campaigner for charity after the death of his wife Raisa from cancer, Gorbachev was a paradoxical figure. Abroad, he was seen as a Cold War hero whose actions – or lack thereof – led to a freer world. In Russia he was widely reviled and disliked, at best a traitor, at worst.