Last Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev Is Dead

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev is dead. 

Gatekeepers News reports that Gorbachev died after suffering from a long and serious illness.

He was 91 years old at the time of his death aft

He took over in 1985 and was best known for opening up the USSR and for bringing the Cold War to a peaceful end, but he was unable to prevent his country collapsing in 1991.

Many Russians blame him and his reformist policies for the country’s demise.

Gorbachev became general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, and de facto leader of the country, at the age of 54.

At the time, he was the youngest member of the ruling council known as the Politburo, and was seen as a breath of fresh air after several ageing leaders.

His policy of glasnost, or openness, allowed people to criticise the government in a way which had been previously unthinkable.

But it also unleashed nationalist sentiments in many regions of the country which eventually led to its collapse.

Internationally he reached arms control deals with the US and refused to intervene when eastern European nations rose up against their Communist rulers.

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, including the US and Britain.

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 “for the leading role he played in the radical changes in East-West relations”.