Mikhail Gorbachev

On the evening of August 30, he learned about the death of Mikhail Gorbachev. The first and last president of the USSR, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, died in Moscow after a long illness, at the age of 91. The news of Gorbachev’s death was commented on by many politicians, celebrities and the media, both in Russia and abroad. Spletnik collected the main quotes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram expressing his condolences to Gorbachev’s family and friends and stating his merits:

US President Joe Biden made a statement stating that concepts such as glasnost and perestroika emerged in the Soviet Union during the Gorbachev era, the world became safer and millions of people were more free:

Arnold Schwarzenegger tweeted his photo with Gorbachev (blocked in the Russian Federation) and wrote that the politician is one of his heroes and a friend:

Raisa and Mikhail Gorbachev

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, described Gorbachev as a reliable and respected leader, noting among his achievements a decisive role in ending the Cold War:

Emmanuel Macron expressed his condolences on the death of “a man of the world whose election opened the way to freedom for Russia”.

Boris Johnson, who recently left the post of Prime Minister of Great Britain, wrote about Gorbachev:

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said:

Comments on Gorbachev’s death are controversial among the Russian public. Leonid Slutsky, the new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, reacted to the news as follows:

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation responded negatively about Gorbachev. RIA Novosti quotes Nikolai Kolomeitsev, the first deputy chairman of the fraction in the State Duma:

Ksenia Sobchak wrote that she was going, but did not have time to interview Gorbachev. She posted photos with him on her telegram channel and shared her memories:

Sobchak devoted a separate article to Gorbachev’s “great love story”:

Filmmaker Alexander Rodnyansky wrote a big post about Mikhail Gorbachev on Instagram*:

Yuri Saprykin, former editor-in-chief of Afisha magazine, wrote a telegram about Gorbachev:

Journalist Artemy Troitsky tweeted:

Alexei Venicetov**, former editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy, puts it this way:

Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, wrote a column about Gorbachev:

Journalist Leonid Parfenov wrote:

Businessman and public figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky** tweeted:

Today, many world media write about the death of the first president of the USSR. Indeed, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “Mikhail Gorbachev almost democratized Russia. He tried to save the Soviet Union but instead hastened its destruction”:

– writes the publication.

*Instagram is owned by Meta, a recognized extremist organization in the Russian Federation.

** Recognized as foreign agent in Russia