Russian officials and lawmakers treaded carefully Wednesday while reacting to Mikhail Gorbachev's death, praising him for his role in ending the Cold War but deploring his failure to avert the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The stance was reflected by state television broadcasts, which paid tributes to Gorbachev as a historic figure but described his reforms as poorly planned and held him responsible for failing to safeguard the country's interests in dialogue with the West.
