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Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union before it collapsed, died at the age of 91, according to Reuters.
“Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev died this evening after a serious and long illness,” the Central Clinical Hospital said.
No further information was released.
Gorbachev became the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in 1985 and set out to enact multiple reforms both domestically and internationally. He is credited with helping bring a peaceful end to the Cold War as the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. Because of his efforts, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1990.
While Gorbachev was able to end the Cold War, he could not stop the collapse of the Soviet Union. Under his watch, pro-democracy protests spread throughout communist nations across Eastern Europe. Gorbachev refused to quell the protests with force like previous Soviet leaders, and they quickly spread. By the end of 1991, the Soviet Union had dissolved, and Gorbachev resigned from office.