How Russia reacted to the death of Mikhail Gorbachev

‘Some will say he bought us freedom. Others that he took our country. Mikhail Gorbachev, one of the most controversial politicians in Russian history, has died.’ This is the verdict of the tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda – a mixed review of a politician with a mixed record. And one reflected in a Russian press which today reads rather differently to the British.

The broadsheet Izvestia’s long obituary had a pitiful verdict: ‘A communist who buried the idea of communism six feet under (most likely against his own wishes), and the leader of a great country who helplessly watched it collapse.’ Ria Novosti, another state-backing news agency, hones in on the divide in western and Russian opinion, snarkily remarking that it ‘wouldn’t be surprising if there were two ceremonies of farewell’ to Gorbachev. One in Moscow and another ‘somewhere in London, with the participation of our emigrants, confident in their belief that Gorbachev “gave freedom to Russia and the whole world”.’