By Aminu Kutama
Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, has died at age 91, Russian news agencies reported, citing medical sources.
“Gorbachev died this evening after a serious and long illness,” the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow said late on Tuesday, as quoted by the Interfax, TASS and RIA Novosti news agencies.
Gorbachev led the Soviet Union from 1985 until its collapse in 1991.
The dissolution of the Soviet bloc – marked by Gorbachev’s resignation that year – ended the Cold war, granted independence to several Eastern European countries and led to the establishment to the modern Russian state.
Gorbachev will be buried in Moscow’s Novodevichy Cemetery next to his wife Raisa, who died in 1999, said Tass news agency, citing a source familiar with the family’s wishes.
