Former PM Mulroney fondly remembers Mikhail Gorbachev
MOSCOW — Former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney says Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, was a “great man” who will be “sorely missed” on the world stage.
Gorbachev, who during his seven years in power made dramatic reforms that paved the way for the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, died Tuesday at a Moscow hospital at the age of 91.
Mulroney said in an interview that while U.S. president Ronald Reagan gets a lot of credit for ending the Cold War without a shot, “it takes two to tango,” and Gorbachev was an indispensable leader on the other side.
“President Gorbachev will go down in history as an iconic leader and one who accomplished a great deal for humanity,” he said.
The former prime minister says he first met Gorbachev in March 1985 and found him to be a breath of fresh air compared to the “stuffy and stultified and un-visionary” Soviet leaders he was used to.
“He was quite charming and direct, alert, and you could tell then that he wanted to do business,” Mulroney said.
He remembers meeting with Reagan a few days later in Quebec City and telling the president that he expected Gorbachev to be an excellent interlocutor.
Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for his role in ending the Cold War and easing nuclear tensions, but he was derided at home as the Soviet Union fell apart. The country had fallen apart in his hands.
His power sapped by an attempted coup against him in August 1991, Gorbachev spent his last months in office watching republic after republic declare independence until he resigned on Dec. 25, 1991, and the Soviet Union wrote itself into oblivion a day later.
By the end of his rule, he was powerless to halt the whirlwind he had sown. Yet Gorbachev may have had a greater impact on the second half of the 20th century than any other political figure.
In a telegram of condolences released by the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Gorbachev as a man who left “an enormous impact on the course of world history.”
“He led the country during difficult and dramatic changes, amid large-scale foreign policy, economic and society challenges." Putin said. “He deeply realized that reforms were necessary and tried to offer his solutions for the acute problems."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described Gorbachev as an “extraordinary” statesman who will “always remain in the country's history,” but noted what he described as his idealistic view of the West.
“Gorbachev gave an impulse for ending the Cold War and he sincerely wanted to believe that it would be over and an eternal romance would start between the renewed Soviet Union and the collective West,” Peskov said. “This romanticism failed to materialize. The bloodthirsty nature of our opponents has come to light, and it's good that we realized that in time.”
The Kremlin’s ambivalence was reflected in the uncertainty about funeral arrangements. An iconic central venue chosen for Saturday’s farewell ceremony has been used for state funerals since Soviet times, but Russian media reported that Gorbachev won't be given that honor.