Mikhail Gorbachev, the first president of the USSR, passed away in Moscow at the age of 91.  Moscow Central Clinical Hospital announced this late on Tuesday night.

 “Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev passed away this evening after a severe and long illness,” the announcement states.

 Mikhail Gorbachev was best known in the world as the person who ended the Cold War.  However, in the post-Soviet region, Gorbachev was perceived as a figure who collapsed the USSR and did not take steps to prevent the escalation of ethnic conflicts in the countries of the Union.