Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev dies at the age of 91 who brought the Cold War to a peaceful end.

Born in 1931, Gorbachev became the general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985 and opened up the Soviet Union to the world and introduced a set of reforms. At the time, he was 54 – the youngest member of the ruling council. He was The Soviet Union’s first and only elected president.

Though the attempted coup against him in August 1991 failed, Gorbachev’s authority did not survive for long. He was unable to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, from which modern Russia emerged. By December that year, the leaders of the Soviet republics of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus signed the Belovezh Accords, effectively breaking up the Soviet Union against the desires of the majority of its citizens.

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

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 will be buried in Moscow’s Novodevichy cemetery, the resting place of many prominent Russians, next to his wife Raisa who died of leukaemia in 1999.

Tributes have been paid worldwide, saying he changed the course of history.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his “deepest condolences” on the death of Mikhail Gorbachev to his family and friends.

US President Joe Biden expressed his deepest condolences over the death of Mikhail Gorbachev to his family and friends, praising his willingness to “risk his entire career” for a “safer world and greater freedom for millions of people.” He has described Mikhail Gorbachev as a “man of remarkable vision.”