Mikhail Gorbachev — "The Chernobyl disaster was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet …"
The Chernobyl disaster was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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More from Mikhail Gorbachev
"I am optimistic about the future. But we must work hard for it."
"I am an optimist, but I am also a pragmatist."
"The world is on the verge of a new Cold War. We must stop this."
"We must not be afraid of new ideas."
"The Soviet Union will continue to exist."
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.