Mikhail Gorbachev died 'shocked, bewildered and psychologically crushed' by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, his long-serving interpreter has said.
Gorbachev died on Tuesday aged 91, after a long illness, undergoing treatment at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow in recent weeks.
The last leader of the Soviet Union was deeply damaged by Moscow's worsening ties with Kyiv in recent years, Pavel Palazhchenko claimed.
While in office, the leader tried to keep the Soviet Union's 15 republics, including Ukraine, together but failed after reforms he set in motion emboldened many of them to demand independence.
His aide, who served the Russian for 37 years, has spoken of how traumatised he was by events this year with the bloodshed no closer to ending seven months on from the start of the illegal war.
He and Vladimir Putin haven't always seen eye-to-eye, with the former Soviet leader becoming more critical of the leader in recent years.
He said Putin's inner circle was full of "thieves and corrupt officials" and demanded the leader change his style and "not be afraid of his own people".
Palazhchenko kept in touch until weeks before his death and said: "It's not just the operation that started in February, but the entire evolution of relations between Russia and Ukraine over the past years that was really, really a big blow to him.
"It really crushed him emotionally and psychologically.
"It was very obvious to us in our conversations with him that he was shocked and bewildered by what was happening for all kinds of reasons.
"He believed not just in the closeness of the Russian and Ukrainian people, he believed that those two nations were intermingled," he told Reuters in an interview.
Political heavyweight Gorbachev ended the Cold War but failed to prevent the collapse of the USSR.
Putin said in a condolence telegram that he had a "huge impact on the course of world history".
Gorbachev was someone who found his "own solutions to urgent problems", he added.
Putin said Gorbachev "deeply understood that reforms were necessary" and strove to offer his own solutions to the problems faced by the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
Expressing his condolences to his family, the Russian president said in a statement: "He led our country during a period of complex, dramatic changes, large-scale foreign policy, economic and social challenges."
Putin also credited the "great humanitarian, charitable, education activities" carried out by Gorbachev.
