U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said Gorbachev—who paid for his liberalizing reforms with his political life—'did more than any other individual to bring about the peaceful end of the Cold War.'
space-based missile defense system, Gorbachev chose to pursue a policy of rapprochement with the United States. This led to a series of bilateral summits between the two leaders that bore fruits in the form of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed in December 1987.
In the end, the rot within the Soviet Union and the forces Gorbachev unleashed by opening its society proved too much and the once-mighty empire came crashing down in 1991. Many Russians blame Gorbachev for the loss of the power and prestige that came with being one of the world's two superpowers, and some observers view Russian President Vladimir Putin's aggressive policies and actions as an effort to regain lost Soviet glory—and territory.
"We could only solve our problems by cooperating with other countries. It would have been paradoxical not to cooperate," Gorbachevof his policies."And therefore we needed to put an end to the Iron Curtain, to change the nature of international relations, to rid them of ideological confrontation, and particularly to end the arms race."
Contrary to popular belief, Gorbachev said he never made any agreement with James Baker, Reagan's secretary of state, to end the Cold War in exchange for a promise to not expand NATO.
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