Kremlin 'intent on undoing good' of Mikhail Gorbachev warns Boris Johnson as leaders pay tribute

Tributes have poured in from around the world for the former Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev, whose death was announced last night. However, there are many different views of his legacy, Robert Moore reports.

The Kremlin is "intent on undoing the good" of Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Johnson has warned, as he and world leaders paid tribute to the legacy of the former Soviet Union leader.

Mr Gorbachev's death, aged 91, has inspired an outpouring of tributes from top politicians across the globe who credited him as one of the most influential men of the twentieth century who "changed the course of history".

Many made reference to the ironic and tragic timing of his death during the worst period of relations between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War.

Leaders hailed his "instrumental" role in ending the war - though Mr Gorbachev, born to a Ukrainian mother and Russian father, received a mixed reaction back at home where he is blamed for the 1991 implosion of the USSR and its diminution as a superpower.

Mr Johnson, speaking in south-east London on Wednesday, hailed Mr Gorbachev for granting "freedom" to the countries of the former Soviet Union as he simultaneously warned of Russian President Vladimir Putin's "revenge-driven" attempts to recreate the USSR.

The outgoing PM said: “Mikhail Gorbachev is one of those people who changed the world and unquestionably changed it for the better.

'Maybe he paid his own political price for it, but when history is written, he will be, I think, one of the authors of fantastic change for the better in the world'

"When you look at what he did to make Europe whole, free, to give freedom to the countries of the former Soviet Union – it was quite an extraordinary thing.

“And of course Mikhail Gorbachev is one of those people who triggered a change, a series of changes, that perhaps he didn’t anticipate"

He added: “And what I worry about today is that the current leadership in Moscow is intent on undoing the good of Mikhail Gorbachev, and is intent on a revanchist attempt, a revenge-driven attempt, to recreate that Soviet empire, and you’re seeing that in Ukraine – that’s the tragedy, something that Mikhail Gorbachev would have thought was absolutely unthinkable, unwarranted."

James Mates reports on the reaction from Europe, where Gorbachev's legacy looms large

Meanwhile, Russian officials and lawmakers' reactions were mixed, praising Mr Gorbachev for his role in ending the Cold War - for which he won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize - but deploring his failure to avert the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In a telegram of condolences released by the Kremlin, Mr Putin praised his predecessor 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,” Mr Putin said. “He deeply realised that reforms were necessary and tried to offer his solutions for the acute problems.”

Mr Putin has famously lamented the collapse of the Soviet Union as the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.”

The Russian nation that emerged from its Soviet past shrank in size as 15 new nations were created.

The loss of pride and power also eventually led to the rise of Mr Putin, who has tried for the past quarter-century to restore Russia to its former glory and beyond.

The stance was reflected by state television broadcasts, which paid tributes to him as a historic figure but described his reforms as poorly planned and held him responsible for failing to safeguard the country's interests in dialogue with the West.

Oleg Morozov, a member of the main Kremlin party, United Russia, said Mr Gorbachev should have “repented” for mistakes that went against Russia’s interests.

“He was a willing or an unwilling co-author of the unfair world order that our soldiers are now fighting on the battlefield,” Mr Morozov said, in a reference to the current war in Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden praised him for creating a "safer world and greater freedoms for millions of people".

“After decades of brutal political repression, he embraced democratic reforms. He believed in glasnost and perestroika – openness and restructuring – not as mere slogans, but as the path forward for the people of the Soviet Union after so many years of isolation and deprivation," he said.

"These were the acts of a rare leader – one with the imagination to see that a different future was possible and the courage to risk his entire career to achieve it."

German leaders praised Mr Gorbachev for paving the way for their country's reunification - but also pointed out that he died at a time when many of his achievements have been destroyed with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

“We will not forget that perestroika made it possible to try to establish democracy in Russia and that democracy and freedom became possible in Europe, that Germany could be united and the Iron Curtain disappeared,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, praised the late politician’s legacy as “one we will not forget”.

In a Twitter post, she said: “He played a crucial role to end the Cold War and bring down the Iron Curtain. It opened the way for a free Europe."

In Asia, he was remembered as a leader with the courage to bring change. China’s government recognised his role in healing relations between Moscow and Beijing.

Mr Gorbachev had been an inspiration to reformist thinkers in China during the late 1980s, and his visit to Beijing in 1989 marked a watershed in relations between the sides.

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