BERLIN (AP) — Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union and for many the man who restored democracy to then-communist European nations, was hailed Wednesday as a rare leader who changed the world and, for a time, brought hope for peace between the superpowers .
But the man, who died on Tuesday aged 91, was also reviled by many countrymen who blamed him for the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and its decline as a superpower. The Russian nation, emerging from its Soviet past, shrank as 15 new nations were created.
The loss of pride and power also ultimately led to the rise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been trying for the past quarter century to restore Russia to its former glory and beyond.
US President Joe Biden praised Gorbachev for being open to democratic change. Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for his role in ending the Cold War.
“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 a way forward for the people of the Soviet Union after so many years of isolation and deprivation,” Biden said.
Biden added that “these are the actions of a rare leader — someone with the imagination to see that a different future is 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.
Although Gorbachev was widely revered abroad, he was a pariah at home. Putin acknowledged that Gorbachev had a “profound influence on the course of world history.”
“He led the country at a time of difficult and dramatic changes, against the backdrop of large-scale foreign policy, economic and social challenges,” Putin said in a short cable, sending his condolences to Gorbachev’s family.
Gorbachev “realized that reforms were necessary and tried to offer his own solutions to acute problems,” Putin said.
Reactions from Russian officials and lawmakers were mixed. They applauded Gorbachev for his role in ending the Cold War, but condemned him for the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Oleg Morozov, a member of the Kremlin’s main United Russia party, said Gorbachev should have “repented” of mistakes that ran counter to Russia’s interests.
“He was a willing or unwitting co-author of the unjust world order that our soldiers are now fighting on the battlefield,” Morozov said, referring to Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
Lech Walesa, the leader of Poland’s pro-democracy Solidarity movement in the 1980s and the country’s president from 1990-1995, had a more nuanced view of Gorbachev. He said he “admires, even likes it, but doesn’t understand it.”
“He believed until the end that communism could be reformed, but I, on the contrary, did not believe it was possible,” Walesa told Wirtualna Polska media.
Walesa added: “He knew that the Soviet Union could not last much longer and was doing everything he could to prevent the world from holding Russia accountable for Communism. And he was successful there.
World leaders have paid tribute to a man some describe as a great and courageous leader.
In Germany, where Gorbachev is considered one of the fathers of the country’s unification in 1990 and is popularly called “Gorby”, former Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed him as a “unique world politician”.
“Gorbachev wrote world history. He illustrates how a single statesman can change the world for the better,” she said, recalling how she feared Russian tanks might invade East Germany, where she lived when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.
Current German Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised Gorbachev for paving the way for his country’s reunification, but also pointed out that Gorbachev died at a time when many of his achievements had 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 terrible war against a neighboring country, Ukraine Scholz said.
Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that “at a time of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, (Gorbachev’s) tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all.”
French President Emmanuel Macron described Gorbachev as “a man of peace whose election opened the way to freedom for Russians. His commitment to peace in Europe changed our shared history.
Others in Europe disputed the positive memories of Gorbachev.
Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s first diplomat who is also the son of Vytautas Landsbergis, who led Lithuania’s independence movement in the early 1990s, tweeted that “Lithuanians will not glorify Gorbachev.”
Memories are still fresh in the Baltic country of January 13, 1991, when hundreds of Lithuanians marched on the Vilnius television tower to oppose Soviet troops sent to crush the country’s attempts to regain its independence. In the ensuing clashes, 14 civilians were killed and over 140 others were injured. Moscow recognized Lithuania’s independence in August of the same year.
“We will never forget the simple fact that his army killed civilians to continue his regime’s occupation of our country. His soldiers fired at our unarmed protesters and crushed them under their tanks. That’s how we’ll remember it,” Landsbergis wrote.
But another Baltic leader, Latvian President Egils Levits, noted that Gorbachev’s policies allowed the eventual independence of the three Baltic countries.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Gorbachev “a one-of-a-kind statesman who changed the course of history” and “did more than any other person to bring about a peaceful end to the Cold War.”
“The world has lost a towering global leader, a committed multilateralist and a tireless advocate for peace,” the UN chief said.
Gorbachev’s contemporaries point to the end of the Cold War as one of his achievements.
“Mikhail Gorbachev played a decisive role in the peaceful end of 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 US defense secretary.
Calling Gorbachev “a brave leader and a great statesman,” Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said the last Soviet leader “opened the doors of the Soviet Union to the great wave of Jewish immigration to Israel in the 1990s.”
In Asia, Gorbachev was remembered as a leader with the courage to bring about change.
China acknowledged Gorbachev’s role in restoring relations between Moscow and Beijing. Gorbachev was an inspiration to reformist thinkers in China in the late 1980s, and his visit to Beijing in 1989 marked a watershed in relations between the countries.
“Mr. Gorbachev made positive contributions to the normalization of relations between China and the Soviet Union. We mourn his death and express our condolences to his family,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.
However, Chinese Communist Party leaders also saw Gorbachev’s liberal approach as a fatal sign of weakness, and his moves toward peaceful coexistence with the West as a form of capitulation.
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Patrick Quinn reported from Bangkok. AP journalists around the world contributed to this report.
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