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Former foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind pays tribute to a great statesman

He opened the Soviet system — and destroyed it. UN head calls him a "statesman who changed the course of history"

The last Soviet leader brought an end to the Cold War, but his reforms accelerated the break up of the USSR.

Mikhail Gorbachev, who has died aged 91, was revered in West but criticised by many Russians for overseeing end of USSR.

Last leader of Soviet Union passes away after long illness

Before Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union seemed an immovable superpower in perpetual antagonism to the United States

In power less than seven years, Gorbachev unleashed breathtaking changes that overtook him and resulted in the collapse of the authoritarian Soviet state, the freeing of Eastern European nations from Russian domination and the end of decades of East-West nuclear confrontation.

‘An epoch in world history came to an end directly as a result of his actions’

Here is a timeline of some key events over the nearly seven years that Mikhail Gorbachev, who died on Tuesday at age 91, held power in the Soviet Union.