8/31/22 - Mikhail Gorbechev Dies at 91

Former leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, passes away.

- Mikhail Gorbachev was the last leader of the Soviet Union and served from 1985 until 1991.

His death was reported yesterday and he was said to have been ill for some time.  He died at the age of 91.

He is being remembered by many as a rare leader who changed the world help to end the Cold War and bring down the Berlin Wall.

After rising to power in 1985, Gorbachev introduced policies that brought reform and new openness to the Communist regime, ultimately leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet state in 1991. 

While in office, Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987.

Many of his countrymen blamed him for the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union and its diminution as a superpower. The Russian nation shrank in size as 15 new nations were created.