Gorbachev played a positive role, but 'under duress', Walesa says

Former Polish president Lech Walesa attends a rally in support of Poland's membership in the European Union after the country's Constitutional Tribunal ruled on the primacy of the constitution over EU law, undermining a key tenet of European integration, in Gdansk, Poland, October 10, 2021. Bartosz Banka/Agencja Gazeta via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. POLAND OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN POLAND.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, played a positive role in ending the Cold War, but he did it "under duress", as Communism was already disintegrating, former Polish president and Solidarity trade union leader Lech Walesa said on Thursday.

Gorbachev died at the age of 91 in a Moscow hospital on Tuesday. He was mourned in the West as a towering statesman who helped bring down the Iron Curtain, but his death received a cool response in Russia.