After taking power in 1985, Gorbachev’s introduction of limited economic and political freedoms – including his “glasnost” policy of free speech – ultimately led to the USSR’s demise. 6.

After 1970, however, the Soviet growth story fell apart, and by some measures, technological progress came to a standstill. Economic stagnation may not fully explain the rise of Gorbachev.

After 1970, however, the Soviet growth story fell apart, and by some measures technological progress came to a standstill. Economic stagnation may not fully explain the rise of Gorbachev.

After the ceremony Gorbachev will, however, be buried like Yeltsin in Moscow’s Novodevichy cemetery, alongside his adored wife Raisa, who died 23 years ago. 4.

In early 1990, when Mikhail Gorbachev’s efforts to liberalize Soviet life were in full flower, I was on a journalistic exchange with a Russian newspaper, Moscow News, at the apex ...

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, who presided over the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, has died at the age of 91. RFE/RL looks back at the life and career of a ...

news Obituaries. Mikhail Gorbachev, who steered Soviet breakup, dead at 91 News organizations quoted a statement from the Central Clinical Hospital as saying he died after a long illness.

It took Putin more than 15 hours after Gorbachev's death to publish a restrained message of condolence that said Gorbachev had had a "huge impact on the course of world history" and "deeply ...

Mikhail Gorbachev is a world-historic figure, and I cannot do justice to him in a brief post. But I have recalled a couple of interviews — one I did with Condoleezza Rice in 1999, and one I did ...

After leaving power, Gorbachev focused on his Gorbachev Foundation, focusing on change in Russia. In 1999, his wife, Raisa, whom he married in 1953, died after battling leukemia.

Mikhail Gorbachev, who led the Soviet Union in the late 1980s until its downfall in 1991, has died at the age of 91, Russian news agencies reported Tuesday.

After marrying classmate Raisa Titorenko, Gorbachev returned to southern Russia, where he began to climb the ladder of the regional Communist bureaucracy, specializing in agriculture.