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A look back at the Soviet leader who changed history

Paris (AFP) - World leaders paid tribute to Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union who died Tuesday in Moscow aged 91.

In power less than seven years, Gorbachev unleashed breathtaking changes that overtook him and resulted in the collapse of the authoritarian Soviet state, the freeing of Eastern European nations from Russian domination and the end of decades of East-West nuclear confrontation.

‘An epoch in world history came to an end directly as a result of his actions’

Here is a timeline of some key events over the nearly seven years that Mikhail Gorbachev, who died on Tuesday at age 91, held power in the Soviet Union.

Lauded in the West as the man who helped bring down the Berlin Wall and end the Cold War without bloodshed, Mikhail Gorbachev was widely despised at home as the gravedigger of the communist Soviet Union.

Gorbachev died after ‘a serious and long illness’, say hospital officials in Moscow

Moscow (AFP) - Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, has died in Moscow aged 91, Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday.

Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader whose vision of humane communism liberated millions, bridled the global arms race and knocked down the walls dividing East and West, has died, according to Russian news agencies.