Putin says Gorbachev had a ‘major impact on world history’

Vladimir Putin paid tribute to the former Soviet leader on Wednesday, saying Gorbachev had a “great impact on world history.”

“Mikhail Gorbachev is a politician and statesman who has had a great impact on the evolution of world history. He has guided our country through a period of complex and dramatic changes and great social, economic and foreign policy challenges,” he said. Putin in a statement. published by the Kremlin and quoted by the AFP news agency.

On Tuesday, the Russian president had already expressed “deep sadness” over the death of the last leader of the USSR.

Former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev has died at the age of 91, Russian news agencies Tass, RIA Novosti and Interfax said, citing the Moscow Central Clinical Hospital.

Gorbachev’s office had said that the former head of state was receiving treatment at that hospital.

According to initial information, Mikhail Gorbachev will be buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, where the remains of important figures in Russian history are located, as well as the grave of his wife, Raisa.

The last president of the Soviet Union had been living out of the media spotlight for years due to health problems.

As the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev fought a losing battle to save a fragile empire, but brought about extraordinary reforms that led to the end of the Cold War.

The former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), between 1985 and 1991, unleashed a series of changes that resulted in the collapse of the Soviet authoritarian state, the liberation of Eastern European nations from Russian rule, and the end of decades of nuclear East-West confrontation.

Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for his role in ending the Cold War and spent his final years collecting praise and honors around the world, contrary to the opinion of Russia, where he was and is despised.