The last secretary of the CPSU Mikhail Gorbachev died at the age of 92.
It is reported by TASS.
It is noted that death occurred after a severe and prolonged illness.
Gorbachev spent several years in the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow. He had diabetes, kidney problems.
Mikhail Gorbachev was the first and last president of the USSR from March 15, 1990 to December 25, 1991. In addition, he was the last general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and head of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
In 2016, in an interview, Gorbachev said that he considered the right decision of Vladimir Putin to occupy Crimea and he would have done the same in a similar situation.
For this, he was banned from entering Ukraine for 5 years.
Gorbachev also stated that the Russian Federation has its own "Catalonia", answering the question of journalists whether there are parallels between the situation in Spain and the events in the USSR.
After a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Gorbachev said he was disappointed with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian journalist Alexei Venediktov, who is a friend of the former general secretary, in an interview for Forbes Russia, noted that "Gorbachev's legacy" was destroyed by Putin's policies, "freedom was Gorbachev's business."
In an interview with Meduza in 2018, Gorbachev said that Putin "did not notice" him at the May 9 celebration in the Kremlin after he warned the incumbent Russian president about the "harm of self-confidence."
"When I said that he considers himself a substitute for God. Of course, this makes him angry: he said that Gorbachev should shorten his tongue. President! Shorten his tongue," Gorbachev said.
At the same time, he said that Putin is "in his place", despite a number of mistakes and miscalculations.