[000:00:00;00] the news the it is breaking news is our live on the international. the final leader of the soviet union, mikhail gorbachev has died. 891 and moscow central health. as we understand this is after a prolonged illness or, and he will be looking through its stores, legacy and special coverage in just a few moment. the people are report killed and over 700 wounded in class with them. thank god you can see the pictures right here. we understand it actually following the retirement from politics of

a leading shia cleric who has always stood very much in opposition to us. influence in the countries more than $1200.00 of the troops are reported to be killed and botched offensive order by ukrainian president lindsey that's in the countries south. it's all according to data disclosed by russia's defense ministry from the a very well welcome to you from all of us here at auto international ally from moscow is now just about one minute pause for in the morning. it's breaking news for you this hour. the final leader of the soviet union mikhail gorbachev has died 1891 in moscow central hospital as we understand it is after that of a prolonged illness. many top politicians moran, the world have already expressed that deep condolences over his death. so for a moment here on the program, let's just take a quick look through gorbachev,

legacy and our special coverage on the international the toward our feet. it's got now joining his life in the studio on this very early morning. great to see you. and obviously coming in for its breaking news coverage or special coverage. here we're in our teens and national the death of mikhail gorbachev. one would imagine that after such a legacy in global public as well, not, not, not just with the days of the soviet union, but just as seen around the world where we're already getting reaction now onto peter from various liter though. of course, rory, i mean, on surprising that there's been an absolutely huge outpouring of condolences for the former soviet leader mikhail gorbachev. i mean, stopping here at home, we have putin who expressed his deepest condolences on the some point later today,

he is expected to get in touch with gorbachev friends and relatives, and express those condolences to him. un 60 general, antonio gutierrez, described him as a one of a kind states new changed the course of history. the u. k. p. m, admired gorbachev's, courage and integrity. your opinion, president ursula on the lie and praised him as a trusted and respected leader who laughed as she described it. unforgettable legacy. and i could go on rory, but just touching on, not on forgettable legacy that live on the line praised him for. i think it's fair to say that it is a bit of a mixed bag, depending on where you look at it from in the west. gorbachev is seen as this sort of progressive reforming leader who brought around democracy an era of hope. and he opened up boston, of course he did, you know, he, he brought an end to the cold war. he signed a number of arms reduction treaties with the u. s. and, of course, brought around to be an indication of germany. he was awarded the nobel peace prize

in 1990 as well for his role in improving between the east and west. but i think is sad to say the overhead in russia that legacy isn't quite as rosy. many russians, they do blame him for the economic turbulence caused by his reforms. you have obviously the iconic perestroika and glasnost, the restructuring, an openness, but not plunged living standards here. and of course, the ninety's were a very chaotic time in russia. so he's been seen in 2 favorable, a light among many russians here. and of course, president putin famously said that he sees the collapse of the soviet union as the greatest duplicate catastrophe of the 20th century. now, following the clubs of the soviet union, of course, gorbachev stepping down from power in 91. he very much took a back seat in russian politics. he did, however, try one more for re into the national political arena in 96 where he run for president. but he only received half a percentage of the votes. and since then,

he mainly focused on humanitarian and educational projects. now he's expected to be buried in moscow as nova gave a chief cemetery next to his wife rice. and she passed away 1919 the very famously, and mrs. her solely or missed her solely and of course will bring you more on the, the fall off and gorbachev death as a mom a gets it. i paid, we appreciate that. thanks for continuing. our special coverage here on our to international will talk to you soon and well for the meantime obviously mikhail gorbachev was the last of the last lead, i should say, of the soviet union during his almost 6 years off his gorbachev set in motion a series of radical for reforms that would change the course of history. of course peter was just discussing this. now this program will be looking back at some of the pivotal chapters of his life. and of course his political career. ah,

for the 1st time sylvia agreed to destroy with mister gorbachev, tear down this ah yep,

you're going to show you so uniqueness. with a good a virtual mikhail gorbachev. a oval hold the soviet union's foreign policy by introducing the new political thinking doctrine, which also ultimately thought relations with the western brought about the end of the costly cold war. now gorbachev a cold for the well to be seen as united and interdependent. instead of divided into a 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 recognized above all others, whether they were religious or national. soviet leader also wanted to see the world free of old nuclear weapons by the start of the 21st century.

ah, he ended the isolation of our country and she brought last most and freedoms. he accompanied gorbachev's to the key meetings of the time. witnessing his history was made. one such meeting was the reykjavik summit in october 1986, the 1 when ronald reagan and may have gorbachev moved to a ground breaking nuclear arms control agreement. despite torques collapsing at the last minute, there was still seen as a huge breakthrough. breakable was the most dramatic and the most exciting, and ultimately a disappointment at 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 in 87 and then then 9 to one. and those are treaties served, i think, are russia and the u. s. and the world are 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 event. many soviet experts on the united states thought 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 worked 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 ronald reagan, in that sense, she was influential and she played an important role in establishing the right atmosphere. remember that before gorbachev 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. gorbachev was responsible for a major nuclear disarmament breakthrough a following nearly 2 years of wrangling with n u. s. president ronald reagan over the issue, he did make a surprise announcement and said that the soviet union was ready to sign the treaty without delay. now in december 1987, the ussr and america signed

a deal to eliminate intermediate range nuclear forces. he and you can see the iconic picture of gorbachev and reagan right now where they signed and agreed to destroy. that missiles are stopped production and pledge not to carry out flight tests of intermediate range missiles, professor of politics and author of the rise and fall of communism. archie brown, he says that gorbachev should be given credit for a voting a devastating nuclear 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 achieving in favor of produce nuclear weapons. so gorbachev 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 in

ending the cold war. the question about the gorbachev led deleting row and ending the cold war. and we shouldn't be the 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 certainly more than anyone else played a decisive role in ending that threat. but many of the soviet union's foreign commitments ended during gorbachev rule. one of the most significant of which was the element of a collective defense treaty among communist states in europe. the war sol pack, which month the end of the cold war and lead to the withdrawal of the soviet army from european countries. the council for mutual economic assistance in the eastern bloc was also disbanded. there was also withdrawal of a soviet armed forces from russ canister off the 10 years of war. 1979 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 that governments 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. 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. your 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, which he did a 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 that's, i'm more about this right now. of course, live 2 political analysts at dakota, lily joining us during this special rolling coverage here on our team to national great to see you today. thanks for coming on the program, you know,

under gorbachev, the soviet military left stuff going on following a decade of war. some might say say that the tide was turned off. got to start when the c i a was embedded with the merger had be in the precursor to al qaeda. and the use of cia and the u. s. made sting miss isles, which were devastating for the soviet chocolate and not very rugged terrain of afghan. asked on, but after a decade of war, the soviet military left afghanistan. how significant was that withdrawal? do you think for the region and also i guess from a perspective of, of the global arena as well. well i think that kind of planted the seeds for and again, i think a lot of corbett charts, premiership kind of, planted the seeds for unipolar world in a way, which i think today we're kind of seeing push back against. but i think at the time again, 10 years is a very long time to be involved in a conflict. i can't say exactly what i would have done in the situation,

but i do think the consequences were being spelled in the region and across the world in terms of geo politics. i think that it kind of signal to the united states that as long as they keep within certain parameters, they could kind of act with impunity in the middle east. and i scanned that, as you said, was particularly affected because of the cia and us intelligence apparatus. is partnerships with the major be in which then they came out to you know, it's very toria in the united states of there were newspaper clippings of, of some of the log in describing him as a freedom fighter. so, policies like that continued to be perpetuated by the united states, up until and after the soviet withdraw. well, as you say, as you say, the movie gene was a precursor to that of monday, al qaeda and, and the cia was deeply involved. they were embedded with the mood and they were

given them weapons and training and all sorts of things to essentially try and push the soviet union out of i've got install and i mean there's a good reason why i've got this on. it's called the graveyard of empires, but bringing it back to contemporary times. many wilson western politicians now already expressing condolences over the death of mikhail gorbachev. for one, for example, boris johnson and the u commission chief of sullivan delay. and they will be expressing their condolences though, why do you think, why do you think politicians currently am pilots still look back on the era of global gorbachev of as being so significant all day wearing rose tinted glasses. do you think? well, i think just kind of speaks to the dichotomy that goes with gorbachev. legacy, i think, abroad and internationally. a lot of people in the west have a positive opinion of gorbachev for whatever reason. but i think domestically in russia, i think it's a story that's completely different. as you said, you have all these western leaders that are seeing the praises of gorbachev.

gorbachev to a lot of people in the west end to a lot of people in russia kind of made the disillusion of the soviet union. and at the time the only sort of match to us had gemini, dissolute, dissolved. and i think that a lot of people kind of credit or discredit gorbachev were doing that. so that's why i think a lot of people in the west, particularly those in the upper echelons, the political clusters like the forest johnson, unlike us politicians are singing his praises. and again, this is not, you know, a cut throat, a bad person, or a good person. this is someone that had a particular point in history. but i think that most importantly should be taken into account how this policy affected his own country. and the opinions of the

services of his respective country dakota. a few moments ago you were discussing gorbachev and the reference to that of a unipolar world, as we well know in the past few months. so my food, in particular, has been talking about a new born world order. this is a multi poto world food and has said repeatedly that nothing can stop the changes that are currently happening in the well you would imagine that even in later years, gorbachev imputed may have still been talking. how do you think gorbachev would now look at what's happening in the world? for example, with a bricks nation's argentina, saudi arabia, they want to join bricks, iran wants to join bricks, you've got the shanghai cooperation organization. you're seeing quite often what some people are quoting a coagulation of certain allied countries around the world. what would gorbachev say to day? do you think? well, i think that gorbachev had a vision of the world as a multi core world. i think that sometime and again, i think it goes to some of the policies that he enacted in terms of his foreign

policy. while he was the head of the soviet union. you know, there's no i would argue that the nuclear arm st signed with united states was a very positive thing. anything towards peace is a positive thing. but i would also argue that you can't have peace in the, you know, poor world. so i think that gorbachev would look positively upon a multi polar or anything that is more than a unipolar world. so i think, and i think, you know, generally much of the world is an agreement. i think that the bricks is something that people are very excited about, as you said. there's even countries like argentina that are now trying to join the rise of china and kind of china's economic influence in partnership with countries in africa is viewed as positively by people in africa. and i think gorbachev's,

i would imagine would view international corporate cooperation not centered around one unipolar power as a good thing. now whether or not you know, the disillusion of the soviet union, aided or abetted the rise of the unicorn world that we see today, i would argue that it would. but also gorbachev's spoke out against the dissolution of the soviet union at the time as well. so, as i said, you know, it isn't a cut throat, you know, one size fits all. he was a good person or a bad person. this is somebody who had their particular time in history, who we can look at with a critical lines without rose colored lenses. and again, that picture is going to look very different depending on where you live in the world. i think appreciate your analysis of dakota, lily political analysts are joining us live on arch into national during outbreak and use coverage. many thanks. many things. thank you. now one of the biggest marks to the last so yet later made it was

a full of course of that of the berlin wall that was november. the 9th 1989 that led to the reunification of germany. after being divided for wealth, almost half a century, this is how that 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 was in 1989 because go which are visited germany promoting perestroika and glass. no, see my head of it's got about and people longing for change quickly followed his ideas. the leadership of the communist party in moscow was much more open, much mounting, reacting on vic political questions all the time. ah . i think that he wanted to make thee 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 side. oh, now i for his work on bridging relations between the east and west, a. gorbachev was awarded the nobel peace prize and was twice named time magazine man of the year 2014 germany marked a quarter century since the fall of the above the wall. and gorbachev was a special guest at ceremony. you can see right here you visited the infamous check point charlie, which of course previously divided the city between soviet and western control. and released one of the $8000.00 balloons illuminating whether wall used to be at the time. but, but your praise relations between the russian and german people's young, who's still i'm proud of what we've achieved together. i think the both people of russia and germany are proud of the fact that we are united and that 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. the former austria and chantelle of both going shuttle and told us to go, but you also role in the reification of germany, paid the way for amicable relations between moscow and bud in 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 let these, these former satellites countries of poland, the baltic cetera, go independently. it was in a great decision, a 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 there 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, got much of his not only for his new political thinking policies towards the west, but also for his love of western culture. and during his time, he rubbed elbows with all sorts of hollywood stars. are you featured in a european clothing campaign, who even can we are rolled in a pizza hut commercial? oh, he's bad all of us. we discourage his wisdom and his vision. and of course, his tremendous will a person,

a very kind i to 91 days before you my going from how i said with responsible for change to with a with mm

hm. with i mean time by coma gorbachev implemented a spread of domestic social, political, and economic reforms, including the complete democratization of soviet policies and a boost for the economy. now, of course, and our discussion of soviet policies will be complete without mentioning glass in austin, perestroika glass north was the transparent discussion of political and shall issues as well as the free circulation of news and information. as a result of ecological problems, politicians, privileges, and soviet bureaucracy. we're all fair again to discuss. perestroika was the democratic restructuring of the so get political and economic systems. however,

many things that perestroika was a failure. it led to a collapse in industry and dia, shortages of consumer goods, ultimately leading to very long queues for even the most basic of necessities. the weak economy sparked massive social unrest. have a look at these all figures right here. the thousands of angry citizens protested in the streets of a poor living conditions and political scientists. we just love nichol enough, says people felt betrayed off the politicians back tracked on promises of prosperity and democracy. democracy without 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 commonest party. and we heard from political analyst, alexander rod, who says that gorbachev lost control of its own reforms, and that of the communist party, i would say that until 809. gorbachev. many things in the soviet union and the firm control some very good ideas had been implemented in, in the reforming reform process in the soviet union, we had glass unless we had to be destroyed or russia, or the soviet union's 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 these 2 years where were periods where gorbachev was arriving after events. he