A look back at the life and work of Mikhail Gorbachev, the father of Perestroika

1/17 SLIDES

© The Daily Digest

Farewell to Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union, died at the age of 91 following a long illness.

Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something using the links recommended in this article.

2/17 SLIDES

© The Daily Digest

Official press release

This was confirmed in a brief statement from the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow, reported by the Russian agencies Interfax and TASS.

Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something using the links recommended in this article.

3/17 SLIDES

© The Daily Digest

A man who made history

Thus disappears one of the great political figures of the 20th century, whose image will be forever linked to the end of the Cold War.

Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something using the links recommended in this article.

4/17 SLIDES

© The Daily Digest

Putin’s condolences

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his deepest condolences following Mr Gorbachev’s death, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Interfax.

Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something using the links recommended in this article.

The slideshow continues on the next slide

5/17 SLIDES

© The Daily Digest

Withdrawn from public life for years

The last president of the Soviet Union, who served from 1985 to 1991, had been out of the limelight for years due to his poor health.

Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something using the links recommended in this article.

6/17 SLIDES

© The Daily Digest

Buried near his wife

Mikhail Gorbachev will be buried with honors in the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow, alongside other eminent Russian historical figures and, above all, where the remains of his wife, Raissa, who died in 1999, rest.

Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something using the links recommended in this article.

7/17 SLIDES

© The Daily Digest

The end of the Cold War

The former president of the Soviet Union played a key role in ending the Cold War between his country and the United States, preventing a confrontation that would have cost the lives of tens of thousands of people.

Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something using the links recommended in this article.

8/17 SLIDES

© The Daily Digest

The Father of Perestroika

In addition, he was the great architect of the reconstruction and modernization of the Soviet Union, reorganizing the economy and promoting the country’s liberalization and international openness.

Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something using the links recommended in this article.

9/17 SLIDES

© The Daily Digest

Nobel Prize of Peace

In fact, he will go down in history for having been the father of Perestroika, but also for the Nobel Peace Prize he obtained in 1990, both for his work at the end of the Cold War and for his role in the reunification of Germany.

Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something using the links recommended in this article.

The slideshow continues on the next slide

10/17 SLIDES

© The Daily Digest

Historic agreements with the United States

Mikhail Gorbachev will sign agreements with the United States, both under Ronald Reagan and under George Bush, to control the use of nuclear weapons.

Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something using the links recommended in this article.

11/17 SLIDES

© The Daily Digest

Respected by the Iron Lady

Even the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, praised Mikhail Gorbachev’s work. “I like Gorbachev. I think we can do business with him,” she told the BBC.

Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something using the links recommended in this article.

12/17 SLIDES

© The Daily Digest

His compatriots did not see things the same way

Despite the fame of his work, he was seen in his own country as responsible for the collapse of a Soviet Union that was politically exhausted and on the brink of economic collapse. In the photo, we see him with Boris Yeltsin.

Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something using the links recommended in this article.

13/17 SLIDES

© The Daily Digest

Bitter electoral failure

This rejection became clear to Mikhail Gorbachev during the 1996 presidential elections, where he obtained only 5% of the vote.

Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something using the links recommended in this article.

14/17 SLIDES

© The Daily Digest

Proud of his actions

Despite this political setback, Mikhail Gorbachev continued to champion Perestroika, economic restructuring, as his greatest political achievement, and championed it as such in March 2021, when he was 90 years old.

Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something using the links recommended in this article.

The slideshow continues on the next slide

15/17 SLIDES

© The Daily Digest

“We did the right thing”

“I remain convinced that it was necessary and that we did the right thing. The Russian people won freedom and a totalitarian system came to an end,” he told TASS.

Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something using the links recommended in this article.

16/17 SLIDES

© The Daily Digest

A complicated funeral

For now, the Kremlin has not set a date for the funeral, nor for the tributes that will be paid to Mikhail Gorbachev.

Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something using the links recommended in this article.

17/17 SLIDES

© The Daily Digest

No Western leaders?

In addition, the conflict with Ukraine and the current situation in Russia may considerably limit the presence of Western leaders at the funeral.

Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something using the links recommended in this article.

17/17 SLIDES