'Live a life that makes a difference': Mikhail Gorbachev's emotional letter to young boy

Former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev penned an emotional letter to a young boy encouraging him to live a “life that makes a difference”.

Mr Gorbachev, who died aged 91 on Tuesday, advised the teenager that "the success you take will ultimately be equal to what you put in" in the note written in 2008.

The letter was shared by Britain's former ambassador to Lebanon, Thomas Fletcher, who revealed the advice was written during his time as a foreign policy and Northern Ireland adviser in Downing Street.

Mr Fletcher worked for prime ministers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron between 2007 and 2011.

“Over several years in 10 Downing Street I collected advice for my son, Charlie,” wrote the former ambassador on Twitter.

“I asked world leaders what they would say to themselves at 14 years old. Mikhail Gorbachev was quite emotional as he wrote this. His translator helped too. Here it is. RIP.”

The note, which was signed “M Gorbachev” and dated June 6, 2008, stated: “Dear Charlie, by the time you read this I may no longer be around, but I wish you a successful and joyful life.

“The success you take will ultimately be equal to what you put in.

“My best wishes for a life that makes a difference.”

His death has prompted tributes from world leaders including outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who said he was “saddened” to hear of the passing at a “time of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine”.

Mr Gorbachev, who brought down the Iron Curtain by introducing Glasnost and Perestroika to the Soviet Union, was famously the Soviet leader with whom Margaret Thatcher said she could do business.

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