As the Kremlin’s hard-line Communist ideologist, he initially embraced his boss’s modernizing reforms before turning against them as threats to the Soviet order.
Tag: Gorbachev, Mikhail S
Nikolai I. Ryzhkov, Soviet Premier Who Presided Over Economic Chaos, Dies at 94
Mr. Ryzhkov, who ascended to the Soviet Union’s second most powerful post in 1985, took much of the blame for the economic collapse that led to the country’s dissolution in 1991.
Russia Pulled Out of a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Here’s What That Means.
In de-ratifying the agreement, Moscow removed another brick in the wall of formal arms control intended to limit proliferation.
What 70 Years of War Can Tell Us About the Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Despite some postmodern features, the fighting resembles a type of conflict from decades past: wars fought between nations in which one does not conquer the other outright.
What 70 Years of War Can Tell Us About the Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Despite some postmodern features, the fighting resembles a type of conflict from decades past: wars fought between nations in which one does not conquer the other outright.
Unlikely Parallels in a Year of Momentous Deaths
The deaths of luminaries like Queen Elizabeth II, Benedict XVI and Bill Russell did not necessarily surprise. Others, though, inscrutably departed seemingly in tandem.
At Mikhail Gorbachev’s Funeral, Russians Mourn in Silent Protest
At the funeral of Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, the size of the crowds signaled the depth of the regret about the undoing of the freedoms that his tenure initiated.
For China’s Xi and Other Strongmen, Gorbachev Showed Exactly What Not to Do
Though Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms were praised in the West, the collapse of the Soviet Union schooled a generation of authoritarian rulers in the dangers of tolerating any signs of dissent or democratic yearnings.
Your Thursday Briefing
Vladimir Putin reacts to Mikhail Gorbachev’s death.
How Reagan and Bush Overcame Their Skepticism of Gorbachev
Mr. Gorbachev was charming and presented himself as a modernizer, but neither Ronald Reagan nor George Bush was convinced he was for real. They would both be proved wrong.