Mikhail Gorbachev — "The breakup of the Soviet Union was a crime. It was a betrayal of the people."
The breakup of the Soviet Union was a crime. It was a betrayal of the people.
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More from Mikhail Gorbachev
"History will judge us."
"I believe in dialogue. I believe in negotiations. I believe in peaceful coexistence."
"The alternative to perestroika is stagnation and decline. We have no other choice."
"The West is trying to impose its own model of development on us. But we have our own path."
"I don't believe in God. I'm an atheist. But I believe in reason, and I believe in justice."
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.