Mikhail Gorbachev

Gorbachev, who led the Soviet Union from 1985 until its collapse in 1991, died in Moscow, Russian news agencies say.

It opened the way for a free Europe. Let them spend a couple of months living like Russians and see how they feel,” an unnamed teacher told the Reuters news agency after Gorbachev received the Nobel Prize. Mikhail Gorbachev was a trusted and respected leader. He also refrained from using force to subdue pro-democracy protests in the Soviet bloc nations of communist Eastern Europe in 1989. “He’s reviled today in Russia because he’s associated with the breakup of the Soviet Union and the end of the leading role that Russia had in the world.” “Gorbachev had become friendly with the West, was seen as a reformer in the West, but he did try to keep the Soviet Union together and he failed in that,” Conor O’Clery, a Moscow correspondent for The Irish Times newspaper from 1991 to 1996, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

The last leader of the Soviet Union, he was ousted as his reforms pointing to the end of the USSR spiralled out of control.

He made an ill-starred effort to run in the 1996 Russian presidential election, but was shut out of the state television channels and got few votes. The hardliners had no obvious alternative and the plenum voted to withdraw the issue of his future from the agenda. This was what led to the second stage of the Gorbachev reforms, as he decided that the system had to change, and not just the men who ran it. He first irritated Gorbachev when, in 1987, he asked Gorbachev to be allowed to resign from his position as Moscow party boss – on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the October revolution, an event Gorbachev wanted to celebrate with an image of unity. Just as the first three years of Gorbachev’s time as Soviet leader illustrated the occasional importance of an individual in history, the same was true of the last two years. Gorbachev summoned a special party conference in June 1988 and persuaded it to accept the idea of a new elected chamber. He was now close to the seat of power himself, and the youngest member of an increasingly ageing team of men. He decided to become more open about the problems of Soviet society, travelling the country, admitting to difficulties and listening to ordinary people complain. Gorbachev was aware that a swath of younger people in the middle ranks of the party’s central apparatus in Moscow – as well as in the academic institutes – thought like him. Gorbachev was not alone in failing to predict the demise of the communist system. As late as 1988 – only three years before the end – Yeltsin was pleading with the Communist party to “rehabilitate” him and give him another chance after he had resigned from the politburo. It was not the objective he set himself when he was elected general secretary of the Soviet Communist party in March 1985, nor did he predict or plan the way the cold war would end, the haemorrhaging of the Communist party, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from eastern Europe, the reunification of Germany or the break-up of the Soviet Union itself.

(Reuters) -Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War without bloodshed but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, died on Tuesday at the age of ...

I think his tragedy is in a sense that he was too decent for the country he was leading," said Gorbachev biographer William Taubman, a professor emeritus at Amherst College in Massachusetts. but there was one miscalculation: we did not know our country well," said Vladimir Shevchenko, who headed Gorbachev's protocol office when he was Soviet leader. "Few leaders in history have had such a decisive influence on their time." "We are all orphans now. "The era of Gorbachev is the era of perestroika, the era of hope, the era of our entry into a missile-free world ... Putin expressed "his deepest condolences", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Interfax.

Gorbachev's 1991 resignation as the Soviet Union's leader portended the fall of communism in eastern Europe.

Gorbachev made a two-week visit to the U.S. During the trip, Gorbachev attended He won less than 1% of the vote in the election, which incumbent Russian President Boris Yeltsin won. His administration also significantly cooled decades of Cold War tensions between the Soviet Union and U.S., along with Eastern Europe and the West in general. [Capitalism Versus Communism: Who's Winning The 100-Year War?](https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2017/11/10/capitalism-versus-communism-whos-winning-the-100-year-war/?sh=55f88f546722) (Forbes) [Mikhail Gorbachev: Putin Is an Obstacle to Progress](https://time.com/4343154/mikhail-gorbachev-the-new-russia/) (Time) Gorbachev championed his reforms as a way to preserve the Soviet Union and bring it into the modern world, but they served to hasten the collapse of communism, especially his move to allow for competitive elections.

Mikhail Gorbachev -- the last leader of the former Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991 -- has died at the age of 91.

But to the end, Gorbachev was a leader more respected in other countries than at home. "All the agreements that are there are preserved and not destroyed," he said. The ultimate goal of arms control, he added, must be to get rid of nuclear weapons completely. In an interview with CNN in 2019, Gorbachev said the US and Russia must strive to avoid a "New Cold War" developing despite worsening tensions. Previously, he had established the Green Cross -- to deal with ecological issues -- and the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Studies, or Gorbachev Foundation. in 2012 that he agreed Russian democracy was "alive" but added: "That it is 'well'... He also seemed to have had a blind spot for the power of the nationality issue: Glasnost created ever-louder calls for independence from the Baltics and other Soviet republics in the late 1980s. In later life, Gorbachev said he was "particularly proud of my ability to detect a fault in the combine instantly, just by the sound of it." The central point in our lives is gone," he said. In 1986, face to face with American President Ronald Reagan at a summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, Gorbachev made a stunning proposal: eliminate all long-range missiles held by the United States and the Soviet Union. He spoke about cooperating with me, working with me on a new union treaty, he signed the draft union treaty, initialed that treaty. As he came to realize, the collective system was fundamentally flawed in more than one way.

Russian news agencies report death of last leader of Soviet Union at Central clinical hospital in Moscow.

In August 1991, a group of ultra-conservatives seized power in a coup while Gorbachev was on holiday in the Crimea. In Russia he was largely reviled and unloved, an unperson at best, a traitor at worst. The man who brought it to an end was Boris Yeltsin, the newly elected president of the Russian Federation. Abroad, he was viewed as the hero of the cold war, whose actions – or lack of them – ushered in a freer world. [Green Cross International](http://www.gcint.org/who-we-are/our-history/), which focused on the toxic nuclear and environmental legacy of the cold war. He approved Putin’s revisionist policy in foreign affairs, including Russia’s 2008 war in Georgia, and the 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. Gorbachev was the the first and last president of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev had barely commented on the war publicly, beyond his foundation making an early call for “an early cessation of hostilities and immediate start of peace negotiations.” He was banned from the country for five years for his remarks. And in summer 1989, he said that Communist countries were free to determine their own internal affairs. It was Gorbachev’s reluctance to use force solutions that would later earn him the Nobel peace prize. With it was glasnost or openness, a concept encompassing liberalism and pluralism after decades of censorship and official lies.

The Secretary-General has paid warm tribute to the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, whose death aged 91 was announced on Tuesday, ...

Mr. Guterres said that in his later years, Mr. Gorbachev into retirement, and the final dissolution of the USSR.

Mikhail Gorbachev, who changed the course of history by triggering the demise of the Soviet Union and was one of the great figures of the 20th centry, ...

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Gorbachev, the last Soviet president, forged arms reduction deals with the US and partnerships with Western powers to remove the Iron Curtain that had ...

I think his tragedy is in a sense that he was too decent for the country he was leading," said Gorbachev biographer William Taubman, a professor emeritus at Amherst College in Massachusetts. But he will be remembered fondly by historians, and one day – I believe it – by Russians," said Cold War historian Sergey Radchenko. but there was one miscalculation: we did not know our country well," said Vladimir Shevchenko, who headed Gorbachev's protocol office when he was Soviet leader. Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in a part of Ukraine now occupied by pro-Moscow forces, said Gorbachev had "deliberately led the (Soviet) Union to its demise" and called him a traitor. "The era of Gorbachev is the era of perestroika, the era of hope, the era of our entry into a missile-free world... But he saw that legacy wrecked in the final months of his life, as the invasion of Ukraine brought Western sanctions crashing down on Moscow, and politicians in both Russia and the West began to speak of a new Cold War.

Western leaders and historians praise former Soviet president, while Russian reaction to his death was much cooler.

Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese said Gorbachev “freed the nations of eastern Europe from the prison of Soviet rule”, and helped bring an end to the cold war. One of Gorbachev’s direct cold war adversaries, former US secretary of state, James Baker, who negotiated the reunification of Germany and the end of the cold war, said: “History will remember Mikhail Gorbachev as a giant who steered his great nation towards democracy. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Gorbachev family and the people of Russia”. He added: “In private he was charming & surprisingly amusing. The report on the official Tass news agency was low on superlatives and merely said he had died and that “Gorbachev promoted glasnost … “The result was a safer world and greater freedom for millions of people.” He played the critical role in a peaceful conclusion of the Cold War by his decision against using force to hold the empire together ... “He was a good friend, surprising as that might seem,” he said. He played a crucial role to end the Cold War and bring down the Iron Curtain. He said the former Soviet president left a legacy His commitment to peace in Europe changed our shared history”. In a Twitter post, Ursula von der Leyen said: “Mikhail Gorbachev was a trusted and respected leader.

“Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev died this evening after a serious and long illness,” the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow said, quoted by the Interfax, TASS ...

For Putin and many Russians, the breakup of the Soviet Union was a tragedy, bringing with it a decade of mass poverty and a weakening of Russia’s stature on the global stage. He was also championed in the West for spearheading reforms to achieve transparency and greater public discussion that hastened the breakup of the Soviet empire. Gorbachev was regarded fondly in the West, where he was affectionately referred to by the nickname Gorby and best known for defusing US-Soviet nuclear tensions in the 1980s as well as bringing Eastern Europe out from behind the Iron Curtain.

The last Soviet leader brought an end to the Cold War, but his reforms accelerated the break up of the USSR.

He was a very pleasant man to deal with and he had great vision for the future of his country which is antithetical to that being articulated now. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Gorbachev family and the people of Russia.” He played a crucial role to end the Cold War and bring down the Iron Curtain. “Mikhail Gorbachev was a one-of-a-kind statesman who changed the course of history. The result was a safer world and greater freedom for millions of people. “Tomorrow he will send a telegram of condolences to his family and friends.”

President Biden said the former Soviet leader had the "imagination to see that a different future was possible."

World leaders reacted to the death of Mikhail S. [said](https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1564727984719814662?s=20&t=f-kTUDB69w4ZtXxf-0gblg) on Twitter that “in a time of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, [Gorbachev’s] tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all.” [wrote](https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202208/1274279.shtml) that “in a historical reflection, Gorbachev is naive and immature,” adding that he would be remembered as “a tragic figure who catered to the US and the West without principle.” [Hiroshima](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/26/japan-russia-nuclear-hiroshima/?itid=lk_inline_manual_21), said Gorbachev had “left behind great accomplishment as a world leader supporting the abolishment of nuclear weapons.” [said](https://twitter.com/CondoleezzaRice/status/1564726532370604032?s=20&t=tjpy5y4RK1_hKRLQd2q03g) on Twitter that Gorbachev’s life was “consequential because, without him and his courage, it would not have been possible to end the Cold War peacefully.” Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his “deepest condolences,” a spokesman told the Interfax news agency, adding that Putin will “send a telegram of condolences to his family and friends.”

The death of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, known for his pivotal role in ending the Cold War and introducing key reforms to the USSR, has prompted ...

After a failed coup by frustrated hard-liners in 1991, Gorbachev resigned by the end of the year. In 1986, face to face with US President Reagan at a summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, Gorbachev made a stunning proposal: eliminate all long-range missiles held by the US and the Soviet Union. So the people would cease to be a herd led by a shepherd. With his outgoing, charismatic nature, Gorbachev broke the mold for Soviet leaders who until then had mostly been remote, icy figures. "I began these reforms and my guiding stars were freedom and democracy, without bloodshed. "He played a crucial role to end the Cold War and bring down the Iron Curtain," she wrote.

Western figures praise former president who helped end the cold war. Plus, US states 'rolling back' LGBTQ rights.

[Vermont senator Bernie Sanders speaks to Owen Jones](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/30/people-are-tired-of-being-ignored-while-the-rich-get-richer-bernie-sanders-on-anger-and-hope-in-the-us-and-uk) before an appearance at a London rally today. He took his case to some of the highest courts in the country after filing a lawsuit. “We’ve been eagerly looking forward to July and August, which are usually the high season for us, but it all seems to be just a pipe dream now.” This has caused hydropower plants to only producing half the energy they were generating this time last year. “I thought I would die before I could hear this,” he says. The country is grappling with a shortage of foreign exchange currency, leaving “Seventy-two districts of Pakistan are in calamity and all four corners of Pakistan are underwater and more than 3,500km [2,175 miles] of roads have been washed away. “More than 1m houses are damaged or destroyed,” said Shehbaz Sharif. Inhabitants of Jackson, which is more than 80% Black or African American, have been urged not to drink tap water. The Mississippi governor, Tate Reeves, said the city-run water treatment plant had been poorly operated and understaffed for years. “Compared with the crony capitalism and chaotic collapse of public services that marked the first years of post-communism in Russia, his goals seem admirable,” writes Jonathan Steele Could the right to same-sex marriage be overturned?

Mikhail Gorbachev - the last Soviet leader, who died on Tuesday - had a "huge impact on the course of history", Russia's President Vladimir Putin says. He had understood reforms were necessary, Mr Putin said - while the head of the UN, António Guterres ...

In June, international media reported that he was suffering from a kidney ailment, though his cause of death has not been announced. His predecessor, Konstantin Chernenko, had died aged 73 after just over a year in office. Rather, he hoped to revitalise its society. Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in occupied Ukraine, said Mr Gorbachev had "deliberately led the [Soviet] Union to its demise" and called him a traitor. This romanticism turned out to be wrong". He is seen in the West as an architect of reform who created the conditions for the end of the Cold War in 1991 - a time of deep tensions between the Soviet Union and Western nations. In recent years, his health had been in decline and he had been in and out of hospital. Mr Gorbachev became general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, and de facto leader of the country, in 1985. The Russian leader's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Mr Gorbachev had "sincerely wanted to believe that the Cold War would end, and that it would usher in a period of eternal romance between a new Soviet Union and the world, the West. The hospital in Moscow where Mr Gorbachev died said he had been suffering from a long and serious illness. Most recently, Mr Gorbachev was said to have been unhappy with Mr Putin's decision to invade Ukraine, even though he had supported the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Mr Putin's spokesman, however, said Mr Gorbachev had been wrong to believe in "eternal romance" with the West.

Mikhail Gorbachev was lionised by the West for lifting the Iron Curtain and ending the Cold War, but opinion is far more negative in Russia and much of its ...

What if the USSR was ruled in the 1980s by someone like Putin?" The American fast-food chain opened to great fanfare in Moscow in 1990, when he was leader of the Soviet Union and Russia was opening up to the world. When protests against communist rule reached a crescendo in October 1989, he ordered Soviet troops not to leave base. The world-changing events of the 1980s and 1990s are now a distant memory to many. The war in Ukraine and an economic downturn are much more at the forefront of people's minds. TV channel NTV considered whether he was worthy of a monument, adding that Russians were ambivalent on the issue. He never admitted giving the order for troops to attack pro-independence protesters, but couldn't prevent the violence. "If anyone else had been president in Russia, this wouldn't have happened. A crackdown on Azerbaijan's pro-independence movement in 1990 left 147 people dead. But the Nobel Peace Prize winner was a controversial figure in Russia, and opinion on him is split. Fast forward to 2022, and McDonald's has ceased all operations in Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. Everything would be different now [if he had saved it]."

Mikhail Gorbachev died at 91 on Aug. 30, 2022. A historian of the Soviet era assesses his impact and the consequences of his failed attempts to reform state ...

[met in a forest setting ](https://www.neweurope.eu/article/30-years-ago-the-stroke-of-a-pen-in-a-snowy-belarussian-forest-changed-the-world/)in the absence of Gorbachev, where they came up with a hastily conceived plan to break up the USSR and abolish Gorbachev’s presidency. Ultimately, the Soviet Empire disintegrated, not from a popular, massive uprising from below, as many in the West imagine, but from the mistakes and [political infighting](https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/intn.html) at the top, which progressively weakened the center’s authority. [achieved the highest position](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mikhail-gorbachev-picked-to-succeed-chernenko) in the party of general secretary in 1985 he embarked on a pell-mell program of reform. [begging for financial help](https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/23/world/gorbachev-pleads-for-100-billion-in-aid-from-west.html) from the George H.W. president [Ronald Reagan came around to the view](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/31/gorbachev-and-reagan-the-capitalist-and-communist-who-helped-end-the-cold-war) that Gorbachev was indeed an authentic dismantler of the Soviet command system. By 1990 his own weakness and indecision had derailed the revolution from above. [Western suspicions](https://indianexpress.com/article/world/how-reagan-and-bush-overcame-skepticism-to-collaborate-with-gorbachev-8122532/) when he first came to power that he was simply a wolf-in-sheep’s clothing, an insincere reformer who was really a hard-line communist, Gorbachev managed to convince the skeptics abroad of his sincerity. As head of government, Gorbachev was faced with an insolvable dilemma: how to achieve the democratic ends he desired without resorting to undemocratic means, force and violence. He mistakenly thought he had a firm agreement with the United States and Germany not to move NATO one inch eastward but failed to get it in writing. [his death at 91](https://www.npr.org/2022/08/30/1120141650/former-soviet-leader-mikhail-gorbachev-has-died), announced by state media in Russia on Aug. But in the process, he ended up undermining socialism as the major alternative to Western neoliberal capitalism. Early fears in the West evolved into anxiety about Gorbachev’s survival as he embarked on his great project.

Russian president praises former leader, but resented collapse of USSR he brought about.

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(Aug 31): Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War without bloodshed but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, died on Tuesday at the age of ...

As leader of the USSR, he worked with President Reagan to reduce our two countries' nuclear arsenals ... He led our country during a period of complex, dramatic changes and large-scale foreign policy, economic and social challenges... It's good that we realised this in time and understood it."

During his time as leader of the Soviet Union (1985-1991), Gorbachev brought about enormous change in Russian politics and society, in international relations, ...

(Reuters) -The funeral of the Soviet Union's last leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died on Tuesday in Moscow aged 91, will take place on Saturday, Russian news ...

Russian president pays tribute to ex-Soviet leader but no decision yet on whether he will get state funeral.

Putin had a strained relationship with Gorbachev, who initiated policies that ultimately led to the fall of the Soviet Union. No romantic period and ‘century of honey’ took place. “He led our country over the period of complex, dramatic transformations and extensive foreign political, economic, and social challenges.

Plus the decline in American life expectancy and the latest on Typhoon Hinnamnor.

Gorbachev wanted to reform the Soviet system, not destroy it. He started his economic reforms by investing huge amounts in heavy industry alongside partial ...

Gorbachev's voice quieted to a murmur as he explained that it was that 1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl that convinced him the Soviet Union could not continue ...

Open Are Deeply Symbolic](https://time.com/6210387/serena-williams-us-open-outfit-symbolism/?utm_source=roundup&utm_campaign=20220902) [We Just Got the Best Snapshot Yet of How Much Progress Students Lost in the Pandemic.](https://time.com/6210490/pandemic-learning-loss-naep/?utm_source=roundup&utm_campaign=20220902)The Results Are Staggering [Jackson, Mississippi Has No Safe Tap Water for the Foreseeable Future.](https://time.com/6209710/jackson-mississippi-water-crisis/?utm_source=roundup&utm_campaign=20220902)It's a Crisis Decades in the Making 30 at 91](https://time.com/5636727/mikhail-gorbachev-dies/), did. Two epoch-making events: one signaling human ambition to challenge the boundaries of where we might live; the other [redrawing the boundaries](https://time.com/6209992/mikhail-gorbachev-end-cold-war/) [Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780525521044), to be released Nov. The world is more malleable than we imagine, and things do not have to be the way they are.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union, died Tuesday from a long illness at the Moscow Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow, ...

›Gorbachev To Putin: Your Time Is Up - Worldcrunch ›Related Articles Around the WebMikhail Gorbachev, last leader of the Soviet Union, dies at 91 - The ... - The Washington PostThe Washington PostBrazil - Estadao"The last leader of the Soviet Union dies at 91" — EstadaoSwitzerland - Neue Zürcher Zeitung“Mikhail Gorbachev dies at 91” — Neue Zürcher ZeitungSpain - ABC“Goodbye mister perestroika” — ABCItaly - Corriere Della Sera“Farewell Gorbachev who changed the world”— Corriere Della SeraUK - The GuardianThe GuardianAustria - Kleine Zeitung"This man wrote the history of the world" — Kleine ZeitungPeru - El Comercio“Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the USSR who ended the Cold War, dies” — El ComercioIreland - Irish IndependentIrish IndependentGermany - Frankfurter Allgemeine“Mikhail Gorbachev dies” — Frankfurter AllgemeineArgentina - Clarin"Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader who changed the world map” — ClarinCanada - Toronto StarToronto StarFrom Your Site ArticlesDid The Soviet Union Drink Itself To Death? Perestroika: World's Front Pages Bid Adieu To Mikhail GorbachevInternational newspapers pay homage to the last of the USSR leaders.Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev waves at a Russian book launch event in 2015.Shcherbak Alexander/TASSAugust 31, 2022RussiaGeopoliticsSourcesWORLDCRUNCHfeatured-postCountriesMikhail Gorbachev, the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union, died Tuesday from a long illness at the Moscow Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow, at age 91.

According to Estonia's Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu, it was a good thing that the reforms planned by Gorbachev did not end where he was aiming for them ...

Although he is often attributed with ending the Cold War and the fall of the Iron Curtain, Gorbachev’s legacy is not as pristine as some would like it to be. According to Estonia’s Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu, it was a good thing that the reforms planned by Gorbachev did not end where he was aiming for them to end. The last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, died at the age of 91.

'The World Jewish Congress mourns the death of Mikhail Gorbachev, a great statesman, an advocate for freedom and human rights, and a true friend of the ...

The relationship between Mikhail Gorbachev and Rajiv Gandhi, two leaders whose fortunes rose and fell almost in tandem, inaugurated a five-year waltz ...

[BJP](https://indianexpress.com/about/bjp/) accused the Soviet Union of interfering in the presidential elections of that year, by pressuring India’s communist parties to not join hands with the opposition for the re-election of Giani Zail Singh, who had revolted against Rajiv. An agreement was signed for scientific and economic cooperation during the visit, and both sides held talks about the deteriorating security situation in the region, a reference to Pakistan without mentioning it by name. And in November 1989, as India voted to defeat Rajiv in that year’s parliamentary elections, the world was celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall that presaged the end of the Soviet Union. It was the time educated Indians started referring to the Soviet leader as Gorby. But by then, Rajiv’s fortunes were on the wane, and there was vociferous opposition at home to the holding of the festival, as well as to his attendance in Moscow, even though it was a wildly successful visit from a foreign relations perspective. It was reported later that Gorbachev wanted to get Rajiv’s assessment of Ronald Reagan before he met the US President in Geneva for disarmament talks scheduled for the following month. With the USSR falling apart, he was removed as leader of the CPSU in August 1991, and in December that year, the Soviet Union was formally dissolved. Rajiv would declare later that it was “amazing how much we [he and Gorbachev] have in common” (The Soviet Union’s Partnership with India: Vojtech Mastny, 2010). Between 1985 and 1989, Rajiv and Gorbachev found enough common ground to mark a high point in India-Soviet relations — their differences over the Soviet leader’s idea of an “all-Asia forum” along the lines of the “common European home” notwithstanding. P V Narasimha Rao, defence minister in the Rajiv Gandhi cabinet, took a military delegation to Moscow for defence shopping and came back with several agreements. Rajiv, who had been labelled as a “pro-West” leader during his initial months in charge, belied Soviet fears of a change in the traditional relationship. [The relationship between the two leaders](https://indianexpress.com/article/world/cold-war-gorbachev-india-visits-8122491/), the Russian Rajiv’s senior by 15 years, inaugurated a five-year waltz between the two countries, ironically at a time when the Soviet Union itself was heading towards its eventual, spectacular collapse.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbechev addressed the Forbes 75th anniversary.

Eventually the last leader of the Soviet Union calmed down, and the show went on. It was to consist of remarks by our extraordinarily special guests, followed by a documentary that we had made about the struggles of democracy in the 20th century. I was privileged to see Gorbachev a year later with a small group. All of us faced the nightmare of a fantastic event crashing into ruins. The only thing we asked in return was that he be part of Forbes’s 75th anniversary celebration at Radio City Music Hall. The following year Mikhail Gorbachev, now out of power, wanted to come to the U.S.