{"id":218900,"date":"2022-09-05T12:00:14","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T11:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=218900"},"modified":"2022-09-05T08:24:36","modified_gmt":"2022-09-05T07:24:36","slug":"mikhail-gorbachev-last-soviet-leader-dead-at-91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/09\/mikhail-gorbachev-last-soviet-leader-dead-at-91\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikhail Gorbachev, Last Soviet Leader, Dead at 91"},"content":{"rendered":"
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31 Aug 2022 – Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader who brought the Cold War to a peaceful end, died yesterday aged 91.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Mikhail Gorbachev died on 30 August 2022, aged 91<\/p><\/div>\n

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Mr Gorbachev, who took power in 1985, opened up the then-USSR to the world and introduced a set of reforms at home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But he was unable to prevent the slow collapse of the Soviet Union, from which modern Russia emerged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Tributes have been paid worldwide, with UN chief Antonio Guterres saying he “changed the course of history”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Mikhail Gorbachev was a one-of-a kind statesman,” UN Secretary General Mr Guterres wrote in a Twitter tribute. “The world has lost a towering global leader, committed multilateralist, and tireless advocate for peace.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The hospital in Moscow where he died said he had been suffering from a long and serious illness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In recent years his health has been in decline and he had been in and out of hospital. In June, international media reported that he had been admitted after suffering from a kidney ailment, though his cause of death has not been announced.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his deepest condolences following Mr Gorbachev’s death, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agency Interfax, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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US President Joe Biden called him a “rare leader” and praised Mr Gorbachev as a unique politician who had the “imagination to see that a different future was possible” amid the tensions of the Cold War.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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European Union President Ursula von der Leyen praised him as a “trusted and respected leader”<\/a> who “opened the way for a free Europe”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“This legacy is one we will not forget,” she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he admired Mr Gorbachev’s courage and integrity,<\/a> adding: “In a time of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, his tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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