no nation, no nation has ever done anything like it in all history. with news, news news . a breaking news on our tea. the final

leader of the soviet union, mikhail gorbachev has died aged 91 years old in moscow. central hospital after a prolonged illness, we will be looking through his historic legacy in our special coverage in just a few moments. i'm with at least 30 people are reportedly killed and over 7700 wounded in clashes in bagdad following the retirement from politics of a leading shia cleric, who opposes us influence. and a raft. with more than 1200 of key of troops are reported killed and a botched offensive ordered by ukrainian president vladimir zalinski in that country south that supporting data disclosed by russia's defense with

hello, you're watching our to international. i'm donald quarter. welcome to the program. now breaking news on our t, the final leader of the soviet union, mikhail gorbachev has died aged to $91.00 in moscow, central hospital after a prolonged illness and he top politicians from around the west have already expressed their deep condolences over his death. now let's take a look through gorbachev's profound legacy and our special coverage here on our team international. ah mikhail gorbachev. the last leader of the soviet union, he was the, during his, almost 6 years in office, garbage have set in motion, a series of radical reforms that would change the course of history in this program

. we'll be looking at some of the pivotal chapters of his life and examining his legacy. ah oh, for the 1st time. so the green destroying weapons, they already had mister gorbachev. chair down

yep, you're going to show you what you eat with 40 in the middle of which will solid garbage have overhauled the soviet union's foreign policy by introducing the new political thinking doctrine, which thought relations with the west and brought about the end of the costly cold war, garbage i've called for the world to be seen as united and interdependent. instead of divided into communist and capitalist countries, he saw the balance of interests of different countries as a way of solving international problems. universal values had to be recognised

above all others, whether they be religious or national. the soviet leader also wanted to see the world free of all nuclear weapons by the start of the 21st century. ah, he ended the isolation of our country and he brought last most and freedoms. he accompanied group which of to the key meetings of the time on witnessing his history was made. one such meeting was the reykjavik summit in october 1986. the one when ronald reagan and may have gorbachev moved to a ground breaking nuclear arms control agreement. despite talks collapsing at the last minute, there was still seen as a huge breakthrough. reykjavik was the most dramatic kind of the most exciting and ultimately a disappointment. to that point,

but later it turned out that the main parameters of nuclear arms reductions had been agreed and then became a treatise that were assigned and 87, and then 9 to one. and those are treaties searched i think, are russia and the u. s. and the world really well over the decades, breakover became possible only after the 1st meeting between reagan and gorbachev, the historic 1985 geneva summit. it was held despite huge skepticism around the events. many soviet experts on the might at states fought that reagan was a very conservative, very rightly president with whom you can really cannot do business. and gotcha believed otherwise and said otherwise. and they were able to establish a relationship with reagan that work quite well. but one of the very 1st meetings

gorbachev held with the west was with the iron lady herself, yuki premier, margaret thatcher. the 2 met in 1984 before gorbachev, even by in soviet leader. the talks were viewed as a 1st step to finally warming relations between the soviet union and the west. i like mister gorbachev, we can do business together. she said so to rather reagan in that sense, she wasn't quite sure. and she played an important role in establishing the right atmosphere. remember that before go mature, came in, there hadn't been a us soviet some, it was 6 years. it's an absolutely incredible thing. if you look at it, it was a huge turnaround in the relationship and something that, despite all the differences between gilbert trove and subsequent leaders has not been undone. because garbage was responsible for a major nuclear disarmament breakthrough. following nearly 2 years of wrangling

with n u. s. president ronald reagan over the issue, he made a surprise announcement and said the soviet union was ready to sign the treaty without delay. in december of 987, the u. s. s. are in the u. s, signed the deal to eliminate intermediate range nuclear forces. you see the iconic picture of garbage having reagan when they agreed to destroy their missiles, stop producing them and pledged not to carry out flight tests of intermediate range missiles, professor of politics and author of the rise and fall of communism. archie brown says gorbachev's should be given credit for averting a devastating new fair war. there are many western leaders as well. well, as many people in the soviet military industrial complex who thought that was utopian and couldn't happen and shouldn't happen. market, sacha for example, was very much opposed to achievers in favor of produce nuclear weapons. so got, which are really was ahead of his time and, and that particular respect he and reagan. so i do,

i don't think they were successful in getting rid of nuclear weapons, so they did greatly reduce the size of nuclear arsenals. and certainly they were successful and ending the cold war. the question about they got the chocolate leading role and ending the cold war and we shouldn't be a soldier for that because never could have begun by accident. so all sorts of ways in which a devastating nuclear war could have broken out. and gorbachev. secondly, more than anyone else played a decisive role in ending that threat. any of the ussr as foreign commitments ended during gorbachev's rule, one of the most significant of which was the element of a collective defense treaty among communist states in europe. the warsaw pact, which marked the end of the cold war and led to the withdrawal of the soviet army from european countries. the council for mutual economic assistance in the eastern bloc commie, con, was also disbanded, as well as, as well. there were,

there was the withdrawal of soviet armed forces from afghanistan after 10 years of war, 979 canister. the situation is volatile. the peoples democratic party is in danger. being toppling the afghan government calls on the ussr to intervene and helped to stabilize the country. so get government is worried. by the end of the year, it looks like tensions could spill over the border into the soviet central asian republics. a december, the 12th 1979, the soviet government secretly decides to send in the troops was only meant to be a short term military operation to secure the ussr southern borders. instead of the soviet union was dragged into an almost decade long campaign, a march

1985 moscow. mikhail gorbachev comes to power only several months later. and soviet troops switch from engaging and direct battles with the afghan opposition to advising and assisting pro government forces. april 1988 agreements from the settlement of the situation in afghanistan assigned un headquarters in geneva, the u. s. and the ussr serving as guarantors. the courts also include provisions for the time table. the soviet withdrawal from afghanistan, as well as restrictions on the u. s. and pakistan supporting the afghan with withdrawal again on may 15th 1988 and took 9 months. 10 years over 600000 soviet soldiers took part in the afghan war with almost 14000 killed.

february 1989. so an end to the deadly conflict. as the last soviet troops left the country, one of the biggest marks that the last soviet leader made was the fall of the berlin wall. on november 9th, 1989 that led to the reunification of germany. after being divided for almost half a century. as to how the historic event unfolded. ah, 1989. the year when the berlin wall fell together with the political, ideological and territorial division of germany. the last 28 long years. or the people of germany awoke in 1961 to the bitter reality. from this moment on they would be divided by barbed wire, concrete, and stones from their friends and relatives. throughout the walls, existence more than 10000 people tried to make it across. hundreds were killed. and

mikhail gorbachev played a crucial role making a peaceful re unification possible. ah, come here to this gate. mister gorbachev, open this gate. ah mister gorbachev, tear down this wall. in 1989 mikhail gorbachev visited germany promoting perestroika and glass nor see my interrogates, got about and people longing for change. quickly followed his ideas. the leadership of the communist party and moscow was much more open, much smiling, reacting on the political questions of the time. ah, i think that he wanted to, macy the leaders of the eastern world. understand you have to accept that we live

in times of changing. and if we don't react, we will be pushed by size ah. for his work on improving relations between the east and west mikhail gorbachev was awarded the nobel peace prize and was twice named time magazines. man of the year 2014 germany marked a quarter century since the fall of the berlin wall and macau garbage was a special guest. at the ceremony, he visited the infamous checkpoint charlie, which had previously divided the city between soviet and western control, released one of the 8000 balloons illuminating where the wall used to be. at the time corporate, you have praised relations between the russian and german peoples whose still i'm proud of what we've achieved together. i think that both people of russia and germany are proud of the fact that we are united. and that's our relationship

is exemplary. but bear in mind that many unhappy about it, but it's tough, doesn't it? and judging from experience when russia and germany are on friendly terms, europe is calm and happy is good for them and it's good for the world. i've used the former austria and chancellor wolf gang. sure soul told us that gorbachev's role in the rena reification of germany paved the way to amicable relations between moscow and berlin. nothing. this is his legacy that with his decision to make it possible a peaceful relief occasion of europe, a peaceful, really vacation of germany, to free to lead these, these former satellites, countries of poland. the bolt existed for go independently. it was a great decision. the great and courageous decision and the fact to eat, made it possible with the, especially with unification of germany,

that russia and germany can really now forge in lasting friendship for the years to come for the, for the future. this was the decisive moment in history. i know some reluctance ease and negative views in russia today, but i think all, this is a great legacy. what michelle gorbachev gave to the world, especially to europe, how garbage is not only known for his new political thinking policies towards the west, but also for his love of western culture. during his time, he rubbed elbows with hollywood stars featured in a european clothing campaign and even start and a pizza hot advertisement. oh, he's not all of us. we discourage his wisdom and his vision, and of course his tremendous will a very kind,

i mean to 91 days before you my going from our is had with responsible for change to with. mm ah, a show at the city will not come meet you, but the blue a blue a

now for more on this run across live to our correspondent peter scott joining us here in the studio. hi peter. so what else do we know about gorbachev's death? so he was 91 when he died and rushes central clinical hospital said he was after a serious and protracted disease. now they didn't go into any further details about the exact cause of death. but it doesn't really come as a surprise, as we know, he was suffering from serious health issues for quite a long time when he was in and out of the hospital. now and surprisingly, there has been an outpouring of condolences for mikhail gorbachev. the coming spokesperson to meet 3 p s calls said the prison expressed his deepest condolences

and is expected to get in touch with gorbachev. friends and family. at some point, later in the day to day, you inspector general and so new, good terrorist described him as a, one of the kind statesmen who changed the course of history. the u. k. p. m praised him for his courage and integrity and the presence of underlying praised him as a trusted and respected leader. he left an unforgettable legacy. and i think it's fair to say the globe of legacy is a bit of a mixed bag. depending where you're looking at it from the west, he's widely seen as this progressive reforming leader, he brought around an era of hope. he opened up russia. obviously he brought on the peaceful ends, the cold war, signed ons reduction street is with the u. s. as well as brought around the unification of germany in 99, he was even awarded the nobel peace prize for his role in improving east west relations. but i think it's fair to say the overhead in russia, his legacy isn't quite as rosy, many blame his political reforms,

glass must in perestroika openness and restructuring for the economic turbulence that engulfed the country in the ninety's and the subsequent fall in living standards. so obviously people here are the biggest fun of gorbachev. the ninety's was certainly a wild period is no secret as well. the demon putin described the collapse of the soviet union as the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century. knows posts $991.00 post the collapse of the soviet union. and gorbachev standing down. he took very much a back seat role in russian politics. that's with the exception of 96, where he did have a brief for re, again into politics. he did run for president, but he only received not point 5 percent of the votes. and since them he the focus mainly on economic sorry, educational and humanitarian projects, he is expected to be buried. most goes nowhere. devi cemetery next to his wife reiser and she passed in 99 of leukemia and he's known to have missed her very soul

is so as and when i get more information on, on his death, on the ceremonies, etc, around i can bring it to you don't thank you. all right, thanks a lot our team peer scott given us the details on that. now back home, garbage have implemented a swath of domestic social, political, and economic reforms, including the complete democratization of soviet policies and a boost for the economy. of course, no discussion of soviet policies would be complete without mentioning glasnost and perestroika class. last was the transparent discussion of political and social issues as well as the free circulation of news and information. as a result, ecological problems, politicians, privileges, and soviet bureaucracy were all fair game to discuss in paris strike. it was the democratic restructuring of the soviet political and economic systems. however, many think that perestroika was a failure. it led to collapse in industry in dire shortages of consumer goods

leading to long queues for even the most basic of necessities. weak economy sparked massive social unrest. thousands of angry citizens protested in the streets over poor living conditions. we spoke to a political scientist earlier, who says that people felt betrayed after politicians backtracked on promises of prosperity and democracy. a democracy without the market economy. that didn't work for one simple reason. when people were allowed to ask questions, the worst question they asked in economy deficit was, where is the food? where are the commodities? when they were allowed to watch television, including the western television, they saw the western stores and they compared to stores in the soviet union. and their question was absolutely evident. so where is all this?

and of course, they blamed the communist party. we heard from political analyst, alexander ra, who says that garbage have lost control of his own reforms and the communist party . i would say that until 809 go back for many things in the soviet union on the firm control. some very good ideas had been implemented in, in the reform and reform process in the soviet union. we had glass and this will be destroyed, or russia or the soviet union image was improving. and the relations with united states in the west were improving from week to week. but in the 90 and 91 thinks were seen of course very difficult and different. and i think that that, that in these 2 years, where were periods were go a bunch of horse running after events. he was not increments of politics anymore corps which was reacting and not acting. he was prepared to pay almost

any price in order to receive the needed credits from outside. he saw the distributors ation of his own country. he had lost already control over eastern europe, and he was losing control of his own party or of his own establishment. and releasing also fearing an altar a cool in his own country. he was very weak despite strong criticism of perestroika and its consequences. gorbachev's insisted that it was not a failure. it had just been derailed usual that i don't agree when people say the perestroika failed. it didn't fail, it was disrupted derailed at the beginning of 1990 gorbachev's approval rating, and the ussr stood at 70 percent. but by the end of the year, it drops to only 20 soviet people felt let down by perestroika when their hopes for a better future were not met. at the same time, gorbachev's rating in the west remained quite high at 81 percent in the united states. 75 percent in germany and britain and 70 percent in italy. jack matlock who

was served as us ambassador to the soviet union recounts the difficulties that corporate face. he was very much a transformative leader. i think he was trying to, number one, put it into the cold war, which with cooperation was to american presidents. he was able to do that. but he also wanted to free his own people from the straight jacket at the communist system had imposed. he would say in private, at times that a russian history was such that the country had always been ruled top down. but if you look out at the world at that time, the successful countries, the ones that were adapt and were ruled bottom up. and so he said, you know, our task is to turn russian history upside down to let our people begin

to rule themselves so to speak. and but that he could not reinvent history or reinvent the russian people. and that. busy the country was not yet accustomed to making the sort of choices that were necessary so it was going to take time. so i think he was realistic about that. a slew of economic, social, and political failures during perestroika led to an attempted coup in august of 991 with senior government and military officials trying to take control of the country away from corporate. you have failed in just 3 days, but precipitated the dissolution. of the soviet union with future liter, boris johnson. sorry, boris yeltsin coming to the for good. the 19th. 1991 on every tv channel in the country, a continuous loop of the ballet swan lake. meanwhile in moscow,

dramatic scenes with playing out a moment. vehicles rolling into the capitol the presence of the usa seller is out of town and not a house arrest. the holiday home in crimea will radio and t v announcements proclaimed mikhail gorbachev was no longer fit for duty. and the country was now under the control of an emergency committee. ah, citizen was motionless. stoopa stay unused at all. yeah. the phone you got about show him if you wanted to gauge him. so he doesn't listen to this effect. these anesthesia tabling him shuttle. you play awfully seeing him at his teaching is up on misty, but at least teaches a chain, a pleasure. any of i didn't miss misty faces to set myself safe. nickerson, they depended media shot down, people across the soviet union and left struggling to understand what exactly is happening. almost device for waking up to around $4000.00 troops and hundreds of

times to petroleum street. the co attempt was masterminded by communists hotline is they wanted to derail a pending agreement on wide ranging sovereignty for soviet republic. but tens of thousands of protested again heading out fight forming around the russian government had quoted russian leda boards. yelton famously defied the takeover from the tub i knew on by the evening. 6 more tanks join yelled inside. the next day, crowds outside the white house continue to grow. ah, as the 21st 3 people it kills when andy cooper a colon, the vomit vehicles ah what a day later gorbachev returns to moscow is the attempted overthrow effectively collapses

. chair, as the russian tree clause becomes the official state flag, the symbolic sign of victory, a hard line communist truth . mikhail gorbachev may have long since retired from governance, but he always remained a vocal influence on russian political course on russia's political course. let's take a listen in order to have more of us got a pretty said we must move on from a plane game to search for common ground on the crotch or lifting of sanctions. you'll have sanctions which are damaging to both sides or she as a 1st step if we should lift the so called personal sanctions. there was the effect politicians on parliamentarians in april, a mean thought which will do nato is for some reason

determined that ukraine should join it as well as an ongoing struggle for regional domination here but no side miss domina in this crossroads region. so recently we've seen a collapse of the trust that had been crated in the process of ending the cold war . but it wasn't undermined yesterday euphoria and triumphalism, whence the heights of western leaders taking advantage of a weakening russia. they claim to monopoly in leadership and domination. in the world examples, the logic of nate's of yugoslavia, cause of a missile defense plans, iraq, libya and syria, the mo, outside pressure that is piled, and president putin, the higher his approval ratings become among the russian public. garbage have will no doubt go down in history for the many things he did as a political leader, but he will also be remembered for the tremendous love he had for his wife fries. maxime of now, he always said she was the driving force of his life and after she da.