Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of Soviet Russia at the time of its fall in 1991, has died, according to multiple reports citing Russian news agencies. He was 91.
Gorbachev served as General Secretary from 1985, adding the title of President of the Soviet Union in 1990. He resigned in August 1991, and the following day, the Soviet Union was formally dissolved.
Gorbachev’s tenure was marked by dramatic change for the Soviet Union and its citizens that ultimately resulted in the collapse of the communist State, the liberation of Eastern Europe and the conclusion of the Cold War.
Though Gorbachev suffered through catastrophic political losses that drove the Soviet Union into oblivion, he won a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Cold War, just one of many laurels he would collect later in life — though not necessarily in Russia.