From BZ/dpa
Mikhail Gorbachev – called “Gorbi” – was one of the last surviving fathers of German unity. Now the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who fought for democratic freedoms in Russia to the end, has died.
According to Russian agencies, the Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Soviet head of state Mikhail Gorbachev is dead. As Tass and Interfax reported from Moscow late Tuesday evening, Gorbachev died at the age of 91.
The world-renowned politician was considered one of the fathers of German unity and a pioneer for the end of the Cold War. East Germans in particular still revere “Gorbi”, as they call him, as a statesman who brought them freedom more than three decades ago.
In the 1980s, under Gorbachev’s leadership, the Soviet Union signed groundbreaking treaties on nuclear disarmament and arms control with the United States. In his home country, Gorbachev, as General Secretary of the Communist Party, initiated an unprecedented reform process with his policy of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). This brought unprecedented freedom to people in the totalitarian system.
November 1999 on the balcony of the Rotes Rathaus: Ex-Chancellor Helmut Kohl, former US President George Bush, then Mayor Eberhard Diepgen and the last head of government of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev Photo: Peer Grimm/Zentralbild/dpa
In 1990 Gorbachev received the Nobel Peace Prize for his courageous reforms. The political process led to massive upheavals in all republics of the Soviet state and ultimately to the collapse of the communist empire.
A large part of the Russian population always saw the former party and state leader as the gravedigger of the Soviet Union – and as a politician without an instinct for power.
Gorbachev resigned as President of the Soviet Union in 1991, before the state dissolved itself shortly afterwards. The new strongman in Moscow at the time was Russian President Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007).
Up until his death, Gorbachev had rendered outstanding services to his own political foundation in Moscow. The organization advocates democratic values and a rapprochement between Russia and the West.
Gorbachev wrote numerous books – most recently also about his disappointment with the Germans and the West. Specifically, he complained that new enemy images were being drawn against Russia. For health reasons, he did not travel to the celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in autumn 2019. He has had to be hospitalized repeatedly over the past few years.
The politician was a co-owner of the newspaper “Novaya Gazeta”, which is critical of the Kremlin and repeatedly uncovers abuses in Russia. In recent years, Gorbachev has repeatedly asked Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin not to further restrict the freedom of the media and elections.
The statesman is buried in Moscow at the New Maiden Cemetery for celebrities – next to his wife Raisa.