Mikhail Gorbachev

"Gorbachev does not have our interests at heart. He is moving far too slowly to privatize, and my deepest fear is that he has no intention to do so at all."

―Margaret Thatcher, in a letter to Boris Yeltsin.

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian: Михаил Сергеевич Гобачёв; 1931 – 2022) was a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the Soviet Union, from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991.

Biography

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was born on 2 March 1931 in the village of Privolnoye, in what was the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. His father was Sergey Andreyevich Gorbachev, and his mother was Maria Panteleyevna Gorbacheva (née Gopkalo).

In 1990, Gorbachev established the Constitutional Court, effectively introducing democracy to Russia and being dubbed the "man of the decade". On 1 June while attending the Washington Summit, Gorbachev signed an agreement with United States president George H. W. Bush to end chemical weapons production and begin the destruction of both country's stock.

When Abstergo Industries realized that Gorbachev had no interest in supporting their goals, the company manipulated British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher into encouraging Boris Yeltsin's intentions to overthrow Gorbachev as leader of the Soviet Union. Thus, in August 1991, Yeltsin incited riots during Gorbachev's absence on holiday, causing him to lose popularity and ultimately paving the way for Yeltsin to unseat him. In December of that year, at a secret meeting called in the Belavezhskaya Forest, the Soviet Union was dissolved and Gorbachev was deposed, with Yeltsin becoming the first President of Russia.

Gorbachev died on 30 August 2022 at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow, aged 91.

Gallery

• 
  Gorbachev and Bush at the 1990 Washington Summit

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (mentioned only) (photo only)