Mikhail Gorbachev — "The Soviet Union was a great country. But it had to change."
The Soviet Union was a great country. But it had to change.
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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 United States has become arrogant and self-confident. This is dangerous."
"I am not a saint. I have made mistakes."
"The responsibility for the current situation in Ukraine lies with both sides."
"The USSR is the most democratic country in the world."
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.