Headline Roundup • August 30th, 2022
Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet Union's Last Leader, Dead at 91
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Mikhail Gorbachev, the final leader of the Soviet Union, died Tuesday at age 91.
His death followed a long illness, according to Russian state media. Gorbachev was known for trying to revitalize the Soviet Union through his "glasnost" (meaning openness) and "perestroika" (meaning restructuring) initiatives when he came to power in 1985. The Soviet Union collapsed six years later. When meeting with then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1986, Gorbachev proposed eliminating all long-range missiles owned by the United States and the Soviet Union, which resulted in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. In 2019, the U.S. withdrew from the treaty.
News sources across the political spectrum highlighted Gorbachev's death prominently Tuesday evening. Headlines from left- and center-rated sources were more likely to give Gorbachev credit: CNN said he "took down the Iron Curtain," and Reuters said he "ended the Cold War."
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REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War without bloodshed but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, died on Tuesday at the age of 91, hospital officials in Moscow said.
Gorbachev, the last Soviet president, forged arms reduction deals with the United States and partnerships with Western powers to remove the Iron Curtain that had divided Europe since World War Two and bring about the reunification of Germany.
But his broad internal reforms helped weaken the Soviet Union to the point where it fell apart, a moment that...
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the final president of the communist country, has died at age 91, according to a hospital in a statement Tuesday.
“Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev died this evening after a serious and long illness,” the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow confirmed, reported the Interfax, TASS, and RIA Novosti news agencies.
Other circumstances surrounding his death have not yet been revealed. The nature of the illness was not disclosed.
Gorbachev spent decades working up the ranks of the Soviet Communist Party, becoming the country’s leader in 1985 when he...
Mikhail Gorbachev -- the last leader of the former Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991 -- has died at the age of 91.
Gorbachev died after a long illness, Russian state news agencies reported.
"Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev died this evening after a severe and prolonged illness," the Central Clinical Hospital said, according to RIA Novosti Tuesday.
The man credited with introducing key political and economic reforms to the USSR and helping to end the Cold War had been in failing health for some time.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences,...