[417] Yeltsin stated that he would veto any idea of a unified state, instead favoring a confederation with little central authority. [240], In January 1987, Gorbachev attended a Central Committee plenum where he talked about perestroika and democratization while criticizing widespread corruption. [159] Two months after being elected, he left Moscow for the first time, traveling to Leningrad, where he spoke to assembled crowds. [305], The third summit was held in New York City in December. [558] McCauley thought Gorbachev displayed "great tactical skill" in maneuvering successfully between hardline Marxist-Leninists and liberalisers for most of his time as leader, although added that he was "much more skilled at tactical, short-term policy than strategic, long-term thinking", in part because he was "given to making policy on the hoof". [410] At a subsequent press conference, he pledged to reform the Soviet Communist Party.
[147] In June he traveled to Italy as a Soviet representative for the funeral of Italian Communist Party leader Enrico Berlinguer,[148] and in September to Sofia, Bulgaria to attend celebrations of the fortieth anniversary of its liberation by the Red Army.
Within three years of the death of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, following the brief regimes of Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko, the Politburo elected Gorbachev as General Secretary, the de facto head of government, in 1985.
[340] With Germany reunified, many observers declared the Cold War over. [100], Gorbachev's main task as regional leader was to raise agricultural production levels, something hampered by severe droughts in 1975 and 1976. In Moscow Raisa Gorbacheva continued her professional career as a lecturer at Moscow State University.
[292], Gorbachev continued to pursue good relations with China to heal the Sino-Soviet Split. [247] These stoked a number of miners' strikes in 1989.
[258] Gorbachev also announced that Soviet Jews wishing to migrate to Israel would be allowed to do so, something previously prohibited. "[367] However, when the U.S. announced plans for a ground invasion, Gorbachev opposed it, urging instead a peaceful solution. But concerns were voiced over the cost of the gala.
Model Milla Jovovich wore a flirty short nude and black lace number. Mikhail Gorbachev, who actually reached the milestone birthday on March 2, arrived with his daughter Irina Virganskaya on his arm and her husband Andrey Trukhachev. Though her ran unsuccessfully for president in 1996, Gorbachev has remained active in public life, as a speaker and as a member of various global and Russian think tanks. At first the small family had to share a room in a communal apartment in Stavropol. [439] From there he went to Spain, where he attended the Expo '92 world fair in Seville and also met with Prime Minister Felipe González, who had become a friend of his. [155] Shortly after Chernenko's death, the Politburo unanimously elected Gorbachev as his successor; they wanted him over another elderly leader. [219], In a May 1985 speech given to the Soviet Foreign Ministry—the first time a Soviet leader had directly addressed his country's diplomats—Gorbachev spoke of a "radical restructuring" of foreign policy.
[447] In 1995 his foundation held a conference on "The Intelligentsia and Perestroika". [331] Some Eastern Bloc leaders, like Hungary's János Kádár and Poland's Wojciech Jaruzelski, were sympathetic to reform; others, like Romania's Nicolae Ceaușescu, were hostile to it. Raisa Maximovna Gorbacheva was the wife of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. [227] In the buildup to this, Gorbachev sought to improve relations with the U.S.' NATO allies, visiting France in October 1985 to meet with President François Mitterrand. This granted Gorbachev significant power over the Stavropol region. [435] He and Raisa initially lived in their dilapidated dacha on Rublevskoe Shosse, although were also allowed to privatize their small apartment on Kosygin Street. [194] As a result, crime rates fell and life expectancy grew slightly between 1986 and 1987. Over following years, much of the wall was demolished. Gorbachev wanted to secure guarantees that SDI would not be implemented, and in return was willing to offer concessions, including a 50% reduction in Soviet long range nuclear missiles.
[90] In August 1968 the Soviet Union led an invasion of Czechoslovakia to put an end to the Prague Spring, a period of political liberalization in the Marxist–Leninist country.
When the birthday boy is a Nobel Peace Prize winner and widely acknowledged as 'The man who changed the world', you can expect some big names to turn up to raise a toast and help blow out the candles. [131], After Brezhnev's death in November 1982, Andropov succeeded him as General Secretary of the Communist Party, the de facto head of government in the Soviet Union.
[593], In 2002, Gorbachev was awarded the Charles V Prize by the European Academy of Yuste Foundation.
Organisers told The Times the event would cost between £2million and £3million to stage. [384] The 500 Days plan was abandoned. [151] He felt that the visit helped to erode Andrei Gromyko's dominance of Soviet foreign policy while at the same time sending a signal to the United States government that he wanted to improve Soviet-U.S. [199] After it ended, it took several years for production to return to previous levels, after which alcohol consumption soared in Russia between 1990 and 1993. [106]