Death of Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev died on 30 August 2022 in Central Clinical Hospital, aged 91. A Soviet politician, Gorbachev rose through the Communist Party to become its general secretary in 1985. He launched reforms known as perestroika, or restructuring, and glasnost, or openness, which loosened censorship and allowed more political debate. In foreign policy he signed an arms treaty with Ronald Reagan eliminating intermediate-range missiles, withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan and allowed the peaceful revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. The reforms led to forces he could not control, and after a failed coup in August 1991 the Soviet Union dissolved in December, when he resigned.

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