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On the occasion of the honorary anniversary, Gorbachev received congratulations from a number of world leaders, from Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Joe Biden to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, his spokesman said.
“He is quarantined in a hospital during a pandemic,” Vladimir Poliakov, spokesman for the Gorbachev Foundation, told AFP.
“He, like all of us, feels tired of all this,” he added.
According to V. Poliakov, M. Gorbachev, who will meet his family and friends on his birthday, received many congratulatory messages from all over the world.
It added that Gorbachev would communicate with family and friends on the basis of social distance, possibly video communication.
“We have prepared everything,” said V. Poliakov.
In a congratulatory message issued Tuesday morning, Putin noted that Gorbachev was an “exceptional” politician who had helped change world history.
“You deserve to belong to brilliant and exceptional personalities, famous statesmen of modern times, who have significantly influenced the course of the history of the country and the world,” Putin wrote in a greeting issued by the Kremlin.
The Russian leader praised Gorbachev’s “energy and creative potential”, noting that the former Soviet leader had been involved in humanitarian and other projects for many years.
The relationship between Putin and Gorbachev was complicated. Gorbachev did not shy away from harshly criticizing the former KGB officer and sometimes called him the guarantor of Russia’s stable development.
Putin abolished almost everything the former Soviet leader tried to achieve by guaranteeing freedoms, such as freedom of assembly and freedom of expression.
The Russian president has called the collapse of the USSR the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.
Poliakov said that while in isolation, Gorbachev continues to work.
“Edit books and articles,” he said.
“Courage and honesty”
In a congratulatory message issued Tuesday morning, Putin noted that Gorbachev was an “exceptional” politician who had helped change world history.
“You deserve to belong to brilliant and exceptional personalities, famous statesmen of modern times, who have significantly influenced the course of the history of the country and the world,” Putin wrote in a greeting issued by the Kremlin.
The Russian leader praised Gorbachev’s “energy and creative potential”, noting that the former Soviet leader had been involved in humanitarian and other projects for many years.
The relationship between Putin and Gorbachev was complicated. Gorbachev did not shy away from harshly criticizing the former KGB officer, but sometimes called him the guarantor of Russia’s stable development.
Putin abolished almost everything the former Soviet leader tried to achieve, including freedom of assembly and expression.
The Russian president has called the collapse of the USSR the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.
Merkel said that the German people will not forget Gorbachev’s contribution to the reunification of the country.
“You can proudly remember your life’s work today,” he said.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the “admiration for courage and honesty” that he and all the British had shown for Gorbachev in “peacefully ending the Cold War,” Boris Johnson said.
Gorbachev is respected in the West, but his reputation in Russia remains controversial.
Yet even the Kremlin-friendly Moskovsky Komsomolec newspaper wrote on Tuesday that Gorbachev had something to celebrate.
“He is the first leader in the thousand-year history of the country to resign voluntarily and remains alive and free,” the newspaper wrote.
The government newspaper Rossijskaya Gazeta hinted that the collapse of the Soviet Union was not ultimately his fault.
Gorbachev was too late. It was very difficult to stop that collapse. Gorbachev arrived too early. At that time, we were not ready to evaluate and implement what was planned, “the newspaper wrote.
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