President Joe Biden credited Mikhail Gorbachev, the former president and last leader of the Soviet Union, for his part in ending the Cold War.
Biden called Gorbachev "a man of remarkable vision" in a statement issued by the White House on Tuesday, the day Gorbachev died. The president referred to his first-hand view as a Senate Foreign Relations Committee member.
"As leader of the USSR, he [Gorbachev] worked with President Reagan to reduce our two countries' nuclear arsenals, to the relief of people worldwide praying for an end to the nuclear arms race," Biden said in the statement. "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."
Gorbachev's death at age 91 was reported by news outlets worldwide, including U.S. News & World Report. He was blamed by many for "the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union and its diminution as a superpower," the magazine article said. Fifteen countries emerged from the former Soviet Union.
Biden's statement referred only to Gorbachev's positive contributions, including his unintended restoration of democracy in the former Soviet Union and its satellite states in Eastern Europe. Biden did not refer to the events that followed the Soviet Union's fall – events that eventually led to Vladimir Putin's takeover as president of Russia, Putin's reversal of many of Gorbachev's reforms, his push to make Russia great again, and the lead-up to Russia's current war with U.S.-backed Ukraine. Gorbachev was often critical of Putin, who announced he will not attend Gorbachev's funeral.
Putin sent a telegram to Gorbachev's family, according to U.S. News & World Report. It read, "He led the country during difficult and dramatic changes, amid large-scale foreign policy [and] economic and social challenges." Putin said Gorbachev "realized that reforms were necessary and tried to offer his solutions to the acute problems."
Biden shared some history in his statement.
"When he [Gorbachev] came to power, the Cold War had gone on for nearly 40 years and communism for even longer, with devastating consequences. Few high-level Soviet officials had the courage to admit that things needed to change."
The president's statement referred to Gorbachev's contributions as "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. The result was a safer world and greater freedom for millions of people."
Biden also mentioned Gorbachev's post-leadership years when "he was still deeply engaged" and when the two men met.
"When Mr. Gorbachev visited the White House in 2009, he and I spoke for a long time about our countries' ongoing work to reduce U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles," Biden said. "It was easy to see why so many worldwide held him in such high esteem. We send our deepest condolences to his family and friends, and to people everywhere who benefited from his belief in a better world."