Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader who oversaw detente with the West, the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, has died in a Moscow hospital at the age of 91.
Gorbachev’s policy of “glasnost” towards the West, underpinned by summits with US President Ronald Reagan to curb the nuclear arms race, paved the way for the end of the Cold War, made him one of the most influential figures of the late 20th century. At home, however, his move to decentralise the Soviet economy, a strategy know as “perestroika”, precipitated an economic collapse that hastened the end of the Soviet Union.
