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Gorbachev’s Death arouses Mixed Russian Reactions

Gorbachev's Death arouses Mixed Russian Reactions

Gorbachev’s Death arouses Mixed Russian Reactions

Newslooks- BERLIN (AP)

The passing of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union and for many the man who restored democracy to then-communist-ruled European nations, was mourned Wednesday as the loss of a rare leader who changed the world and for a time gave hope for peace among the superpowers.

But the man who died at age 91 on Tuesday was also reviled by many countrymen who blamed him for the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union and its diminution as a superpower. The Russian nation that emerged from its Soviet past shrank in size as 15 new nations were created.

The loss of pride and power also eventually led to the rise of Vladimir Putin, who has tried for the past quarter-century to restore Russia to its former glory and beyond.

FILE – Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, right, talks with former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev at the start of a news conference at the Castle of Gottorf in Schleswig, northern Germany, Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2004. Russian news agencies are reporting that former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has died at 91. The Tass, RIA Novosti and Interfax news agencies cited the Central Clinical Hospital. (Carsten Rehder/dpa via AP)

“After decades of brutal political repression, he embraced democratic reforms. He believed in glasnost and perestroika – openness and restructuring – not as mere slogans, but as the path forward for the people of the Soviet Union after so many years of isolation and deprivation” President Joe Biden said.

He added that “these were the acts of a rare leader – one with the imagination to see that a different future was possible and the courage to risk his entire career to achieve it. The result was a safer world and greater freedom for millions of people.”

Gorbachev won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Cold War but although widely feted abroad, he was a pariah at home.

Putin acknowledged that Gorbachev had “a deep impact on the course of world history.”

“He led the country during difficult and dramatic changes, amid large-scale foreign policy, economic and social challenges,” Putin said in a short telegram sending his condolences to Gorbachev’s family.

Gorbachev “realized that reforms were necessary and tried to offer his solutions to the acute problems,” Putin said.

Reactions from Russian officials and lawmakers were overall mixed. They applauded Gorbachev for his part in ending the Cold War but censured him for the collapse of the Soviet Union.

FILE – President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, right, meet for the first time before summit talks at the villa Fleur D’Eau at Versoix near Geneva, Switzerland on Nov. 19, 1985. Russian news agencies are reporting that former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has died at 91. The Tass, RIA Novosti and Interfax news agencies cited the Central Clinical Hospital. (AP Photo/Scott Stewart, File)

Oleg Morozov, a member of the main Kremlin party, United Russia, said Gorbachev should have “repented” for mistakes that went against Russia’s interests.

“He was a willing or an unwilling co-author of the unfair world order that our soldiers are now fighting on the battlefield,” Morozov said, in a reference to the current war in Ukraine.

FILE – Former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, left, is greeted by former U.S. President George H.W. Bush during their meeting in Houston, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

World leaders paid tribute to a man some described as a great and brave leader.

In Germany, where Gorbachev is considered one of the fathers of the country’s reunification in 1990 and is popularly referred to as “Gorbi,” former Chancellor Angela Merkel saluted him as “a unique world politician.”

“Gorbachev wrote world history. He exemplified how a single statesman can change the world for the better,” she said in a statement, recalling how she had feared Russian tanks might roll into East Germany, where she lived, as the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.

FILE Former U.S. President Clinton, center, shares a laugh with Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, right, and Bono, left, of the rock group U2, before a dinner hosted by Mr. Gorbachev, at the Russian Embassy in New York in honor of the Frank Foundation Child Assistance International of Washington D.C. on Sunday, March 10, 2002. Russian news agencies are reporting that former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has died at 91. The Tass, RIA Novosti and Interfax news agencies cited the Central Clinical Hospital. (AP Photo/Stephen Chernin, Pool, File)

Current German Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised Gorbachev for paving the way for his country’s reunification, though he also pointed out that Gorbachev died at a time when many of his achievements have been destroyed.

“We know that he died at a time when not only democracy in Russia has failed — there is no other way to describe the current situation there — but also Russia and Russian President Putin are drawing new trenches in Europe and have started a horrible war against a neighboring country, Ukraine,” he said.

Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also recalled the current conflict, saying that “in a time of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, (Gorbachev’s) tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all.”

FILE – Mikhail Gorbachev, center, attends the International Women’ s Day Gala at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on March 7, 1985. Left to right are: Politburo members Geidar Aliey, Mikhail Solomentsev, Viktor Grishin, Andrei Gromyko, Mikhail Gorbachev and Nikolai Tikhonov. Russian news agencies are reporting that former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has died at 91. The Tass, RIA Novosti and Interfax news agencies cited the Central Clinical Hospital. (AP Photo/Boris Yurchenko, File)

French President Emmanuel Macron described Gorbachev as “a man of peace whose choices opened up a path of liberty for Russians. His commitment to peace in Europe changed our shared history.”

Others in Europe challenged positive recollections of Gorbachev.

Gabrielius Landsbergis, the son of Vytautas Landsbergis who led Lithuania’s independence movement in the early 1990s and is now its top diplomat, tweeted that “Lithuanians will not glorify Gorbachev.”

Gorbachev's profile as a Protagonist in Global change
FILE – Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev says in Moscow that a local military commander ordered the use of force in the breakaway republic of Lithuania, where an assault by Soviet troops on Jan. 13, 1991 claimed 14 lives. Russian news agencies are reporting that former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has died at 91. The Tass, RIA Novosti and Interfax news agencies cited the Central Clinical Hospital. (AP Photo/Boris Yurchenko, File)

Memories are still fresh in the Baltic country of Jan. 13, 1991, when hundreds of Lithuanians headed to the television tower in Vilnius to oppose Soviet troops deployed to crush the country’s bid to restore its independence. In the clashes that followed, 14 civilians were killed and more than 140 others were injured. Moscow recognized Lithuania’s independence in August that year.

“We will never forget the simple fact that his army murdered civilians to prolong his regime’s occupation of our country. His soldiers fired on our unarmed protesters and crushed them under his tanks. That is how we will remember him,” Landsbergis wrote.

FILE – Pope John Paul II shakes hands with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in the first ever meeting between a Kremlin chief and a Pontiff, in Vatican, Friday, Dec. 1, 1989. Russian news agencies are reporting that former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has died at 91. The Tass, RIA Novosti and Interfax news agencies cited the Central Clinical Hospital. (AP Photo/Massimo Sambucetti, File)

But another Baltic leader, Latvian President Egils Levits, noted that Gorbachev’s policies enabled the eventual independence of the three Baltic countries.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Gorbachev “a one-of-a kind statesman who changed the course of history” and “did more than any other individual to bring about the peaceful end of the Cold War.”

“The world has lost a towering global leader, committed multilateralist, and tireless advocate for peace,” the U.N. chief said in a statement.

Gorbachev’s contemporaries pointed to the end of the Cold War as one of his achievements.

FILE – Former U.S. President George Bush meets with Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, who stepped down in 1991 as the Soviet Union collapsed during Bush’s presidency in Moscow, Russia on Monday, Sept. 15, 2003. Russian news agencies are reporting that former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has died at 91. The Tass, RIA Novosti and Interfax news agencies cited the Central Clinical Hospital. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

“Mikhail Gorbachev played a critical role in the peaceful end to the Cold War. At home, he was a figure of historical importance, but not in the way he intended,” said Robert M. Gates, who headed the CIA from 1991 to 1993 and later became U.S. defense secretary.

Calling Gorbachev “a brave leader and great statesman,” Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said the last Soviet leader “opened the gates of the Soviet Union for the great wave of Jewish immigration to Israel in the 1990s.”

In Asia, Gorbachev was remembered as a leader with the courage to bring change.

FILE – In this undated photo obtained from the Kommsomol Young Communist League, Mikhail Gorbachev poses for a picture at the age of 19, wearing the Red Banner of Labor medal he received for driving a harvest combine on the plains of southern Russia. Russian news agencies are reporting that former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has died at 91. The Tass, RIA Novosti and Interfax news agencies cited the Central Clinical Hospital. (Kommsomol, Young Communist League via AP, File)

China’s government recognized Gorbachev’s role in healing relations between Moscow and Beijing. Gorbachev had been an inspiration to reformist thinkers in China during the late 1980s, and his visit to Beijing in 1989 marked a watershed in relations between the sides.

“Mr. Gorbachev made positive contributions to the normalization of relations between China and the Soviet Union. We mourn his passing and extend our sympathies to his family,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said.

However, China’s Communist Party leaders also regard Gorbachev’s liberal approach as a fatal display of weakness and his moves toward peaceful coexistence with the West as a form of surrender.

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