Mikhail Gorbachev — "I regret that I could not prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union."
I regret that I could not prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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More from Mikhail Gorbachev
"I am not afraid of glasnost. I am not afraid of criticism. I am not afraid of democracy."
"The West should not gloat over the difficulties of Russia."
"If you like Reagan so much, why don’t you marry him?"
"The reforms are irreversible. There is no turning back."
"I am a convinced communist. This is my main credo. I will never renounce it. I am a convinced Marxist-Leninist. I will never renounce it."
About Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022)
Final General Secretary of the Soviet Union whose glasnost and perestroika reforms led to the USSR's dissolution and the end of the Cold War. Closely associated with Boris Yeltsin (his domestic rival and successor as Russian leader) and Ronald Reagan (Cold War counterpart and arms-control partner). For an intellectual contrast, see Vladimir Putin, Russian president (2000-2008, 2012-) — Putin has publicly called the Soviet collapse 'the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century' — Gorbachev's signature achievement. Putin's two-decade political project has been organized around reversing Gorbachev's liberalization.