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Gallery|Politics

Photos: Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union

Gorbachev, who won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Cold War, died aged 91 after a long illness.

Mikhail Gorbachev
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev delivers a lecture entitled My Life in Politics at the International University he founded in Moscow, on February 9, 2012. [Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo]
Published On 31 Aug 202231 Aug 2022
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The passing of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union and for many the man who restored democracy to then-communist-ruled European nations, was mourned on Wednesday as the loss of a rare leader who changed the world and for a time gave hope for peace among the superpowers.

Gorbachev, who died on Tuesday at the age of 91 after a long illness, had won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Cold War.

But he was also reviled by many countrymen who blamed him for the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union and its diminution as a superpower. The Russian nation that emerged from its Soviet past shrank in size as 15 new nations were created.

World leaders paid tribute to a man some described as a great and brave leader.

Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that “in a time of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, his tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all”.

French President Emmanuel Macron described Gorbachev as “a man of peace whose choices opened up a path of liberty for Russians. His commitment to peace in Europe changed our shared history.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called him “a one-of-a-kind statesman who changed the course of history” and “did more than any other individual to bring about the peaceful end of the Cold War”.

Former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a tweet that “his life was consequential because, without him and his courage, it would not have been possible to end the Cold War peacefully”.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida noted Gorbachev’s important role in the reduction of nuclear weapons held by the Soviet Union and the US, saying he had made “great achievements”.

Mikhail Gorbachev
US President Ronald Reagan talks with Gorbachev during arrival ceremonies at the White House where the superpowers began three-day talks in Washington, on December 8, 1987. [Boris Yurchenko/AP Photo]
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Mikhail Gorbachev
Russia's President Vladimir Putin talks with Gorbachev at the start of a news conference at Gottorf Castle in Schleswig, northern Germany, on December 21, 2004. [Heribert Proepper/AP Photo]
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Gorbachev and Cuban leader Fidel Castro wave from an open-top car as it drives through Havana's Revolution Square on April 2, 1989. [Rafael Perez/Reuters]
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Gorbachev holds notes given to him by then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin during a special session of the Russian Federation parliament in Moscow on Friday, August 23, 1991. [Boris Yurchenko/AP Photo]
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Gorbachev and Romanian president Nicolae Ceausescu ride an open car and wave to a crowd while passing through downtown Bucharest on May 25, 1987. [Boris Yurchenko/AP Photo]
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Gorbachev speaks to Lithuanians at the Lenin monument in Vilnius, Soviet Union on January 11, 1990. [Victor Yurchenko/AP Photo]
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Mikhail Gorbachev
US President Reagan and Gorbachev sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in the White House on December 8, 1987. [Reuters]
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Pope John Paul II shakes hands with Gorbachev in the first ever meeting between a Kremlin chief and a pontiff, in the Vatican on December 1, 1989. [Massimo Sambucetti/AP Photo]
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Former US President Bill Clinton shares a laugh with Gorbachev and Bono, of the rock group U2, before a dinner hosted by Gorbachev at the Russian embassy in New York. [Stephen Chernin/AP Photo]
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Gorbachev shakes hands with actor Pierce Brosnan during a press conference announcing the recipients of Global Green USA's Green Cross Millennium Awards on October 17, 1997. [Reuters]
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Former leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev stands with then-Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres at his official residence in Lisbon on April 5, 2000. [Reuters]
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Then-British Prime Minister John Major takes a question from the media gathered outside 10 Downing Street after he and Gorbachev held talks in London on July 18, 1991. [Liu Heung Shing/AP Photo]
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Gorbachev and Polish leader Wojciech Jaruzelski during the second session of the Tenth Communist Party Congress in Warsaw, Poland, on July 1, 1986. [AP Photo]


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