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Mikhail Gorbachev, who as the last leader of the Soviet Union waged a losing battle to salvage a crumbling empire but produced extraordinary reforms that led to the end of the Cold War, has died at 91

The last leader of the Soviet Union, who has died at 91, enjoyed an unusual second act as a spokesperson for Western brands. Kevin E G Perry looks back at how Mikhail Gorbachev came to embody the triumph of capitalism

Euphoria. There is no better word to describe my feelings, the feelings of many in the Soviet intelligentsia, when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power and started the reforms that the world came to know as perestroika and glasnost. It was the euphoria of liberation, freedom, hope.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Mikhail Gorbachev changed the course of modern history by triggering the demise of the USSR and allowing Eastern Europe to free itself from Soviet rule, earning him accolades in the West but the scorn of many Russians.

For all the adulation he inspired in the West, Mikhail Gorbachev was a tragic figure who failed in the historic mission he had defined for his own country.

His death was announced by multiple Russian news agencies on Tuesday evening, citing officials at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow.

Here is a timeline of some key events over the nearly seven years that Mikhail Gorbachev, who died on Tuesday at age 91, held power in the Soviet Union.

Lauded in the West as the man who helped bring down the Berlin Wall and end the Cold War without bloodshed, Mikhail Gorbachev was widely despised at home as the gravedigger of the communist Soviet Union.

The world leader who closed out the Cold War and brought democracy to the former Soviet Union died Tuesday at the age of 91, according t