We are now living in a new world. An end has been put to the Cold War and the arms race, as well as to the mad militarisation of our country, which crippled our economy.

Я всегда говорил, что предложить можно много, но историю не оставишь без последствий.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Politicians

Mikhail Gorbachev

Last leader of the Soviet Union (1931-2022). Elected General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1985 at age 54, he launched perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness), negotiated the INF Treaty with Ronald Reagan, allowed Eastern Europe to fall in 1989, and accepted German reunification. He won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize but presided over the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991 against his own wishes - a hero in the West, a controversial figure in Russia.

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