The passing of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union and for many the man who restored democracy to then-communist-ruled European nations, was mourned Wednesday as the loss of a rare leader.
President Ronald Reagan, right, talks with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev during arrival ceremonies at the White House where the superpowers begin their three-day summit talks in Washington, D.C., Dec. 8, 1987.
“After decades of brutal political repression, he embraced democratic reforms. He believed in glasnost and perestroika – openness and restructuring – not as mere slogans, but as the path forward for the people of the Soviet Union after so many years of isolation and deprivation” President Joe Biden said.He added that “these were the acts of a rare leader – one with the imagination to see that a different future was possible and the courage to risk his entire career to achieve it.
Reactions from Russian officials and lawmakers were overall mixed. They applauded Gorbachev for his part in ending the Cold War but censured him for the collapse of the Soviet Union. “Gorbachev wrote world history. He exemplified how a single statesman can change the world for the better,” she said in a statement, recalling how she had feared Russian tanks might roll into East Germany, where she lived, as the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.
Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also recalled the current conflict, saying that “in a time of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all.”French President Emmanuel Macron described Gorbachev as “a man of peace whose choices opened up a path of liberty for Russians. His commitment to peace in Europe changed our shared history.
But another Baltic leader, Latvian President Egils Levits, noted that Gorbachev’s policies enabled the eventual independence of the three Baltic countries.U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Gorbachev “a one-of-a kind statesman who changed the course of history” and “did more than any other individual to bring about the peaceful end of the Cold War.”
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