Mikhail Gorbachev death: All you need to know about the former USSR leader

Former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev passed away on Wednesday at the age of 91 after suffering from a long and protracted illness. He will be buried at Moscow’s Novodevichy Cemetry next to his wife Raisa, who died in 1999. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences at the passing of USSR’s last head. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Reuters, “Tomorrow he [Putin] will send a telegram of condolences to his family and friends.” 

Here’s all you need to know about Soviet Union’s last leader  

1. Youngest member of the Politburo, he became the General Secretary of the Communist Party at the age of 54 in March 1985.  

2. Soon after this, he launched perestroika (change or reform) and glasnost (openness) to bring USSR out of political and economic stagnation.  

3. He also introduced measures to curb excessive drinking among Russians. As part of these measures, Gorbachev ordered destruction of vineyards in the country and announced limit on the number of hours alcohol would be available.
  
4. Doubts were cast about the glasnost policy after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion in April 1986.  

5. Gorbachev refrained from using brute force when pro-democracy protests erupted in Soviet bloc nations in eastern Europe in 1989.  

6. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for the role he played in ending the Cold War between the East and West without bloodshed.  

7. Gorbachev failed to anticipate the strong nationalistic sentiment in Baltic republics of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, which spread to regions like Ukraine and Georgia. This nationalistic sentiment eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.  

8. He won a Grammy in 2004 with former US President Bill Clinton and Italian actress Sophia Loren for recording of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf.  

9. Years after his stint as the USSR president, Gorbachev featured in a Pizza Hut commercial in 1998 and a Louis Vuitton campaign in 2007.  

10. The last Soviet leader was born on March 2, 1931 in Privolnoye located in southern Russia. His grandfathers and father were peasants and members of the Communist Party.  

Also read: Former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended Cold War without bloodshed, dies at 91

Also read: WATCH: 1998 Pizza Hut ad featuring former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev