Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney says Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, was a “great man” who will be “greatly missed” on the world stage.
Gorbachev, who during his seven years in power made sweeping reforms that paved the way for the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, died Tuesday in a Moscow hospital at the age of 91.
Mulroney said in an interview that while US 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 who accomplished much for humanity,” he said.
The former prime minister says he met Gorbachev in March 1985 and found him to be a breath of fresh air compared to the “stuffed, stupefied and short-sighted” 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 recalls meeting with Reagan a few days later in Quebec City and telling the president that he hoped Gorbachev would be an excellent interlocutor.
“I said, ‘You know, Ron, there’s a new game in town, here,'” Mulroney recalled. “‘This is a guy we can get along with and accomplish things with.'”
Gorbachev’s approach to diplomacy contrasts sharply with the “bellicose and mediocre leadership you see in Moscow today,” Mulroney added. The Russian invasion of the Ukraine is “exactly the antithesis of what Gorbachev wanted.”
Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for his role in ending the Cold War and easing nuclear tensions, but he was ridiculed at home as the Soviet Union fell apart. The country had collapsed at his hands.
With power sapped by a coup attempt against him in August 1991, Gorbachev spent his last months in office watching republic after republic declare independence until he resigned on December 25, 1991, and the Soviet Union fell into oblivion. one day later.
At the end of his rule, he was unable to stop the whirlwind he had sown. However, Gorbachev may have had a greater impact on the second half of the 20th century than any other political figure.
“I see myself as a man who initiated the reforms that were necessary for the country, for Europe and for the world,” Gorbachev told The Associated Press in a 1992 interview shortly after leaving office.
“I am often asked, would I have started all over again if I had to repeat it? Yes indeed. And with more persistence and determination,” he said.
His run for president in 1996 was a national joke, drawing less than 1 percent of the vote. In 1997, he resorted to doing a Pizza Hut television commercial to earn money for his charitable foundation.
But he was praised outside of Russia, and Mulroney said they deepened their friendship on the international speaking circuit. In more recent years, they would meet in Houston, New York, or Montreal.
“I watched it quite a bit. And I really enjoyed it personally. We had a wonderful personal relationship,” he said. “I witnessed the fabulous relationship he had with his wife and his family. He was, in my opinion, a great man.”
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on August 30, 2022.
— With files from The Associated Press.