Russian news agencies have announced the death of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, citing a statement from Moscow’s Central Clinical Hospital, where he was undergoing treatment.
Agencies reported his death on 30 August following a “serious and long illness”. He was 91.
Gorbachev – a towering figure in 20th century history whose rise to power transformed the map of Europe and steered the Cold War to its end – was the last and only president of the Soviet Union before its collapse in 1991, as he forged relationships with the United States to lift the Iron Curtain and unite Germany in the long shadow of World War II.
He presided over an era of perestoika and glasnost as reforms sparked pro-democracy protests across communist bloc nations in the late 1980s, fuelling the dissolution of the 15 Republics of the Soviet Union.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres remembers him as “a one-of-a kind statesman who changed the course of history” and a towering global leader, committed multilateralist, and tireless advocate for peace.”
