Can a single person change the world? Yes is the consensus after the passing of Mikhaïl Gorbachev. And change it for the better, claims the West: the last Soviet leader boldly brought the USSR in from the cold: reforming and agreeing to independence for satellite states, all without bloodshed.
But for many Russians, he gave away an empire, and ushered in the humiliating chaos of the 1990s. We ask about the legacy of a leader who outlived his time in power by 30 years before passing on Tuesday at the age of 91.
With Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, as EU leaders ponder visa restrictions for Russians, the Nobel Peace laureate today embodies a bygone era and a promise, that of a world where walls come down, where East meets West, and their citizens do business and make friends. Was glasnost and the great thaw that ended the Cold War just a brief interlude, a freak exception or will there be other Gorbachevs to bring down the iron curtains of the present?
Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Imen Mellaz.
