Mikhail Gorbachev, who as the last leader of the Soviet Union fought a losing battle to save the crumbling empire but initiated extraordinary reforms that led to the end of the Cold War, has died aged 91, media reported. .
News organizations quoted a statement from the Central Clinical Hospital saying he died after a long illness. No other details were revealed.
Though in power for less than seven years, Gorbachev has made a dramatic series of changes. But they quickly overcame it, resulting in the collapse of the authoritarian Soviet state, the liberation of Eastern European countries from Russian domination, and the end of decades of East-West nuclear standoff.
His fall was humiliating. Desperately out of power in an attempted coup against him in August 1991, he spent his final months in office overseeing the republic’s independence until he resigned on December 25, 1991. The Soviet Union forgot about it a day later.
A quarter of a century after its collapse, Gorbachev told the Associated Press that he would not consider using large-scale force to try to preserve the USSR because he feared chaos in a nuclear nation.
“The country was loaded with weapons. And that immediately pushed the country into civil war,” he said.
Many of the changes, including the collapse of the Soviet Union, did not resemble the transformation that Gorbachev envisioned when he became Soviet leader in March 1985.
At the end of his reign, he was unable to stop the storm he had sowed. However, Gorbachev may have had greater influence in the second half of the 20th century than any other political figure.
“I see myself as someone who initiated the necessary reforms for the country, for Europe and for the world,” Gorbachev told the AP in a 1992 interview shortly after leaving office.
“I am often asked if I have to do it all over again. Yes sure. And with more persistence and determination,” she said.
Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for his role in ending the Cold War, and his years since have seen him win awards and honors from around the world. However, he was very much hated at home.
The Russians blamed him for the implosion of the Soviet Union in 1991, a formidable superpower whose territory disintegrated into 15 separate nations. His former allies abandoned him and made him a shameful test for the country.
He appeared in a 2018 documentary. Meeting with Gorbachev.
The official TASS news agency reports that Gorbachev will be buried next to his wife in Moscow’s Novodevichy Cemetery.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
