Mikhail Gorbachev, the first and last president of the Soviet Union, passed away on Tuesday night, August 30, at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow, the capital of Russia, after a long struggle with illness.
The last Soviet leader died at the age of 92. He spent his last days remaining in the minds of Russian citizens and the world as a historical figure who played an important role in the Russian political scene. its role in changing the map and shape of the world.
Although the collapse of the Soviet Union was under Gorbachev, it played an important role in several historical events such as the end of the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the reunification of East and West Germany.
Mikhail Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931 to Sergei Andreevich Gorbachev and Maria Panteleevna Gorbachev. His father was a WWII veteran as well as a crop picker, and his mother was a laborer.
Young Mikhail was distinguished by his ability to learn and teach himself the use of working machines, and despite his young age, he began to contribute to the household income in 1948, becoming the youngest person to receive the Red Banner Medal for his work. accomplishments because of his active role in harvesting the crops for that year.
He completed his secondary education with honors, received a silver medal after graduating from high school, entered Moscow University, studied law and graduated from the university in 1950. In 1967, he received a master’s degree in by letter from the Stavropol Agricultural Institute.
In 1953, while studying at Moscow State University, he married his classmate, Raisa Titarenko, and four years after their marriage, the couple had a daughter, Irina.
Gorbachev, who left his childhood with his high organizational skills and great dedication to work and a tendency to work in the political field, became a leading member of the Communist Party. . He became the youngest member of the Politburo in 1979 and was appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985.
During his leadership, he tried to reform the party and the country’s economy by introducing the concepts of openness, restructuring, democracy and economic development, and also made many technological advances that increased of productivity. He also sought to democratize the country’s political system and adopt economic decentralization known as the “glasnost” policy, which is believed to be one of the reasons for the fall of communism and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
On October 14, 1990, the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for his leading role in bringing about the peace that is now enjoyed by significant parts of the international community”. In an official statement, the Nobel Committee praised the changes made by the Soviet leader that “benefited his country and the world community, eased tensions between East and West, and slowed the arms race.”
After his presidency, he founded the Russian Social Democratic Party, resigned in 2004 and founded a new party three years later, the Union of Social Democrats.
In 2008, the US National Constitution Center, held by former US President George Bush (his father), awarded Mikhail Gorbachev the “Medal of Freedom” for his “courageous” role in ending the Cold War. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the “Berlin Wall”. .
In recent years, Gorbachev has faced several accusations that caused the collapse of the Soviet Union, leading some representatives of the Russian State Duma (Parliament) to call for prosecution, emphasizing that citizens of the Soviet Union expressed their preferences during the referendum. maintaining the unity of the state, but the Soviet leaders engaged in illegal activities that led to the collapse of the country.
Gorbachev rejected these accusations in an interview with the “Interfax” agency, published on April 10, and recommended a serious examination of all those who voted in the Supreme Council of Russia to ratify the Belovezhskaya-Pucha Agreement and how they voted. The agreement was signed on December 8, 1991, resulting in the establishment of the CIS and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Gorbachev added: “The then Duma representatives who voted for the Belovezhskaya Agreement should be rounded up and deported.”
Source: agencies
Source: Arabic RT
