Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday considering his meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev who was “charming” and “friendly” when he paid respect to the last Soviet leader who died on Tuesday at the age of 91.
Tharoor said he had privileges to meet Gorbachev twice, The second time in Italy at a small conference, and his last conversation with him was at Rimini at the Pio Manzu Conference whose former Soviet leader was chaired in 2009. (also reading the important role to drop the iron curtain ‘: tribute to Mikhail Gorbacheveveve)
Gorbachev ended the cold war without bloodshed by bringing the Soviet Union closer to the West than at any point since World War II but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union itself.
Bringing to Twitter, Tharoor said, “Former Soviet President Mikhail #Gorbachev has died. He will be remembered by many people as a pragmatic leader who changes the Soviet Union & brings him to democracy but by others as people who cause their collapse with their policies on perestroika (restructuring) & glasnost (openness). DIE.”
He added, “I got the privilege to meet Mikhail Gorbachev twice, twice in Italy at a small conference. He is fun, charming & friendly, & there is no air. My last conversation was at Rimini, where I talked about India at the Pio Manzu Conference which he led in October 2009. RIP. “
Gorbachev died after a long time sick, according to a statement from the central clinical hospital in Moscow.
US President Joe Biden praised Gorbachev, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990, as a “rare leader” that made the world safer.
This is the actions of a rare leader – one with imagination to see that a different future is possible and the courage to risk all his careers to achieve it,” Biden said in a statement, referring to his democratic reform. “The result is a safer world and greater freedom for millions of people.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said “Gorbachev’s tireless commitment to open Soviet society remains an example for all of us”.
