The 8th and last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, has died at 91.
Mikhail Gorbachev was the General Secretary of the Soviet Union from 1985-1991. He was also head of State between 1988 to 1991. He is globally recognized for peacefully ending the cold war and influencing the fall of the Berlin wall.
The Soviet Union also fell under his leadership and unfortunately, he is still seen by the majority of the Russian population as a weak leader who got deceived and betrayed by the West, despite being celebrated globally for being a peacemaker and winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.
His leadership was initially widely accepted and he was considered a hero by the Russian people for giving the Soviet Union a new face and adopting the policies of Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (restructuring).
Unfortunately, following the end of the cold war and the fall of the Soviet Union, he was politically disgraced and almost assassinated.
It is unlikely that he will receive a large state burial as a disgraced and widely disliked politician in Russia but speculators believe he will receive a respectable burial.