Last Soviet leader Gorbachov dies aged 91

Mikhail Gorbachev, the former and the last Soviet leader, died aged 91 on Tuesday.  

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his “deepest condolences” for his death, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said shortly after the news went viral.  

 

“Mikhail Gorbachev was a one-of-a-kind statesman,” UN Secretary General Mr Guterres wrote in a Twitter tribute.  

 

“The world has lost a towering global leader, committed multilateralist, and tireless advocate for peace.” 

 

Doctors had suggested that the former political leader had been suffering from a “long and serious illness”.  

 

In June, international media reported that Gorbacjov had been admitted to hospital after suffering from a kidney ailment, though his cause of death has not been announced so far. 

Gorbachev, who took office back in 1985, opened up the Soviet Union to the world and introduced a set of reforms at home. 

 

But he was unable to prevent the slow collapse of the Soviet Union.