Mikhail Gorbachev

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Thousands Mourn Gorbachev and a More Open Society

Moscow ceremony turns out to be essentially a state funeral

(Newser) - Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who launched sweeping changes that helped end the Cold War and precipitated the breakup of the Soviet Union, was buried Saturday after a farewell ceremony attended by thousands of mourners but snubbed by Russian President Vladimir Putin . The Kremlin's refusal to formally declare a...

Putin Won't Attend Gorbachev's Funeral

Kremlin says he's too busy on Saturday

(Newser) - It's no secret that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is not a fan of the political legacy of Mikhail Gorbachev. That became clearer than ever on Thursday when the Kremlin announced that Putin will not attend the former Soviet leader's funeral this weekend, reports CNN . "Putin's work...

Kremlin Criticizes Gorbachev's 'Romantic' View of the West

It's not clear whether Soviet leader will get a state funeral

(Newser) - The Kremlin treaded carefully Wednesday reacting to Mikhail Gorbachev's death , praising his prominent role in reshaping 20th-century history but noting his "romantic" view of the West. The Kremlin’s ambivalence was reflected in the uncertainty about funeral arrangements. An iconic central venue chosen for Saturday’s farewell ceremony...

Tributes Pour in for Gorbachev
Tributes Pour in
for Gorbachev
Aug 30, 2022 8:36 PM CDT

Tributes Pour in for Gorbachev

Kissinger, Schwarzenegger were among those praising late Soviet leader

(Newser) - Tributes and message of condolence poured in for Mikhail Gorbachev Tuesday after the death of the Soviet Union's last leader —including from Vladimir Putin, who has often referred to the fall of the Soviet Union as a "tragedy" and a "catastrophe." According to a Kremlin...

Russian Media: Gorbachev Dead at 91
Russian Media:
Gorbachev Dead at 91
Aug 30, 2022 3:46 PM CDT

Russian Media: Gorbachev Dead at 91

He was the Soviet Union's final leader

(Newser) - 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, Russian media reported Tuesday. News organizations quoted a statement from the Central Clinical...

Gorbachev Warns of 'Colossal' Danger to the World

Former Soviet leader worried about nuclear weapons amid new Russia-West tensions

(Newser) - The man credited with helping bring about the end of the Cold War doesn't think it's actually over. "Chilly but still a war," Mikhail Gorbachev tells the BBC when he asked to characterize current relations between Russia and the West. "Look at what's happening—...

Reagan, Gorbachev Signed It 32 Years Ago. Now, a Dead Deal

US and Russia both walked away Friday from arms control treaty; US to test new missile

(Newser) - The United States plans to test a new missile in coming weeks that would have been prohibited under a landmark, 32-year-old arms control treaty that the US and Russia ripped up on Friday. Washington and Moscow walked out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty that President Reagan and Soviet leader...

Gorbachev: Trump's Move 'Not the Work of a Great Mind'

He's alarmed by plan to pull out of nuke treaty

(Newser) - Mikhail Gorbachev is puzzled and alarmed by President Trump's plan to pull the US out of a treaty that is part of his—and Ronald Reagan's—legacy. The 87-year-old former Soviet leader told Russia's Interfax news agency Sunday that Trump's move to scrap the Intermediate-Range Nuclear...

Trump Wanted to Be Ambassador to USSR: Report

Nobel Prize winner met with Trump in 1986 to talk about Soviet leader

(Newser) - Donald Trump, already showing signs of "Russia mania," planned to ask President Reagan for an ambassadorship to the Soviet Union so he could negotiate nuclear disarmament. Or so a 95-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner tells the Hollywood Reporter in an exclusive interview. Bernard Lown, who invented the defibrillator,...

Gorbachev: World Appears to Be Preparing for War

He wants Putin, Trump to act

(Newser) - Mikhail Gorbachev, a man who knows a thing or two about being in charge of a nuclear superpower, is very troubled by what he sees in the world today. "Politicians and military leaders sound increasingly belligerent and defense doctrines more dangerous," the former Soviet leader writes in Time...

Taste for Beer May Be Saving Lives of Russian Men

Brief booze crackdown in 1980s got young men to shift away from vodka

(Newser) - Russian men have an unfortunate tradition of drinking themselves to an early death. As bleak as the number are—life expectancy for Russian men was 65 in 2012, compared with 76 in the US and 74 for China, notes Quartz —researchers have spotted improvement of late. And oddly, they...

Gorbachev: We're Facing 'New Cold War'

Former Soviet leader warns of Western 'triumphalism'

(Newser) - Tensions between the major powers have pushed the world closer to a new Cold War, former Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev said today. The 83-year-old accused the West, particularly the United States, of giving in to "triumphalism" after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the...

Putin: Crimea Was Always Part of Russia

Blasts West as Kremlin approves annexation treaty

(Newser) - Vladimir Putin opened his mouth and let the West have it today during his fiery formal proposal to annex Crimea, which he claimed "has always been part of Russia"; he likened the annexation to the reunification of East and West Germany. Putin declared the referendum to join Russia "...

UK Snubs Argentina at Thatcher Funeral

Cristina Fernandez persona non grata

(Newser) - The latest fallout from the Britain-Argentina Falkland Islands feud : A government source tells Reuters that Argentine President Cristina Fernandez is not invited to Margaret Thatcher's funeral next week because Thatcher's family doesn't want her there. Thatcher led Britain during the Falklands war, and "it's about...

As Russia Erupts, Gorbachev Steps In

More rallies expected for today

(Newser) - Mikhail Gorbachev is stepping into the fray, and urging Russian authorities to annul the results of Sunday's scandal-ridden elections and hold a new vote. His voice is joined by those of thousands of Russians who have taken to the streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg since Monday, and Gorbachev...

Gorbachev Slams Russia's 'Sham Democracy'

Ex-Soviet leader attacks 'conceited 'Putin regime

(Newser) - Mikhail Gorbachev has launched his most blistering attack yet on Vladimir Putin's regime. The last Soviet leader, speaking at a press conference ahead of his 80th birthday, described Putin's Russia as a sham democracy, the Guardian reports. "We have everything—a parliament, courts, a president, a prime minister and...

Saddam Sought Soviet Help in '91

Declassified records reveal attempt to head off US attack

(Newser) - A frustrated Saddam Hussein pleaded with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for diplomatic assistance as the Operation Desert Storm ground battle began in 1991, reveal newly declassified records from Iraqi archives. The records—part of a huge archive containing millions of documents and thousands of hours of video footage captured after...

It's Time for the US to Sign a Nuclear Test Ban
It's Time for the US
to Sign a Nuclear Test Ban
MIKHAIL GORBaCHEV
Dec 29, 2010 10:56 AM CST

It's Time for the US to Sign a Nuclear Test Ban

START was a good first step, but let's get serious

(Newser) - The START treaty was a great first step in the quest for a nuclear-free world, but now that it’s ratified “we can speak of a serious step forward for both countries,” writes Mikhail Gorbachev in the New York Times . That serious step: a complete ban on nuclear...

Gorbachev: Russia Is Reverting to Bad Old Days

He writes critical op-ed on 25th anniversary of perestroika

(Newser) - Mikhail Gorbachev warns that Russia is in danger of backsliding into the dark days of the Soviet Union in a critical op-ed piece that seems aimed directly at Vladimir Putin. The country's parliament is no better than a rubber stamp, its courts lack independence, and there's still no real party...

Gorbachev: Take It From Me, Leave Afghanistan

'No prospect' for military victory, says former Soviet president

(Newser) - Mikhail Gorbachev—the man who pulled the Soviet Union's troops out of Afghanistan after a decade of stalemate—says the US should do the same. "There is no prospect of a military solution," he tells Bloomberg . The nation is too fragmented among clans, dooming even a troop surge...

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