Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev dies at 91, Russian media reports

Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com 
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Visit Shots! now
Mikhail Gorbachev, who as the last leader of the Soviet Union waged a losing battle to salvage a crumbling empire but produced extraordinary reforms that led to the end of the Cold War, has died at 91, according to Russian media.

News organisations quoted a statement from the Central Clinical Hospital as saying he died after a long illness. No other details were given.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Though in power less than seven years, Mr Gorbachev unleashed a breathtaking series of changes, but they quickly overtook him and resulted in the collapse of the authoritarian Soviet state, the freeing of eastern European nations from Russian domination and the end of decades of East-West nuclear confrontation.

His power sapped by an attempted coup against him in August 1991, he spent his last months in office watching republic after republic declare independence until he resigned on Christmas Day 1991.

Gorbachev resigned on December 25 1991 and the Soviet Parliament ceased to exist the following day.Gorbachev resigned on December 25 1991 and the Soviet Parliament ceased to exist the following day.
Gorbachev resigned on December 25 1991 and the Soviet Parliament ceased to exist the following day.

The Soviet Union wrote itself into oblivion a day later.

A quarter of a century after the collapse, Mr Gorbachev told the Associated Press he had not considered using widespread force to try to keep the USSR together because he feared chaos in a nuclear country.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The country was loaded to the brim with weapons. And it would have immediately pushed the country into a civil war,” he said.

Many of the changes, including the Soviet break-up, bore no resemblance to the transformation he had envisioned when he became the Soviet leader in March 1985.

File photo dated 17/12/84 of Mikhail Gorbachev during a seven-day visit to London. Photo credit: PA/PA WireFile photo dated 17/12/84 of Mikhail Gorbachev during a seven-day visit to London. Photo credit: PA/PA Wire
File photo dated 17/12/84 of Mikhail Gorbachev during a seven-day visit to London. Photo credit: PA/PA Wire

By the end of his rule he was powerless to halt the whirlwind he had sown, but he may have had a greater impact on the second half of the 20th century than any other political figure.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I see myself as a man who started the reforms that were necessary for the country and for Europe and the world,” he said shortly after he left office.

“I am often asked, would I have started it all again if I had to repeat it? Yes, indeed. And with more persistence and determination,” he said.

Mr Gorbachev won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Cold War and spent his later years collecting accolades and awards from all corners of the world, but he was widely despised at home.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Russians blamed him for the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union — a once-fearsome superpower whose territory fractured into 15 separate nations. His former allies deserted him and made him a scapegoat for the country’s troubles.

The official news agency Tass reported that Mr Gorbachev will be buried next to his wife at Moscow’s Novodevichy cemetery.

Related topics: