Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who brought the Cold War to a peaceful end, has died aged 91.
Tributes
Tributes have been paid worldwide, with UN chief Antonio Guterres saying he “changed the course of history”.
“Mikhail Gorbachev was a one-of-a-kind statesman.
“The world has lost a towering global leader, committed multilateralist, and tireless advocate for peace.” UN Secretary-General Mr. Guterres wrote in a Twitter tribute.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his deepest condolences following Mr. Gorbachev’s death, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian news agency Interfax.
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.
European Union President Ursula von der Leyen praised him as a “trusted and respected leader” who “opened the way for a free Europe”.
“This legacy is one we will not forget,” she added.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he admired Mr. Gorbachev’s courage and integrity, adding: “In a time of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, his tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all.”
Mr. Gorbachev made one ill-fated attempt to return to political life in 1996, receiving just 0.5% of the vote in presidential elections.
His divisive legacy is reflected in the tributes that followed his death.
Henry Kissinger, who served as US Secretary of State under President Richard Nixon, said Mr. Gorbachev will be “remembered in history as a man who started historic transformations that were to the benefit of mankind and to the Russian people”.
James Baker, who negotiated the reunification of Germany with Mr. Gorbachev’s government, told the New York Times that “history will remember Mikhail Gorbachev as a giant who steered his great nation towards democracy”.
But many Russians never forgave him for the turmoil that followed the collapse of the USSR.
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.
Declining health
The hospital in Moscow where Mr. Gorbachev died said he had been suffering from a long and serious illness.
In recent years his health has been in decline and he had been in and out of the 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.
Reports say he will be buried in Moscow’s Novodevichy cemetery, the resting place of many prominent Russians, next to his wife Raisa who died of leukemia in 1999.