On August 30, 2022, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, the first (and last) President of the USSR, passed away at the age of 91. On behalf of the family of Andrei Sakharov and the Andrei Sakharov Foundation, I offer my deepest condolences to Mikhail Sergeyevich’s family.
Mikhail Gorbachev will always remain for me the man who single-handedly freed my grandfather, Andrei D. Sakharov, from a torturous exile that stifled his voice and sought to break him mentally and physically.
Millions around the world are saddened by the passing of a world-changing politician who gave the world hope for peace and mutual understanding, helping to overcome division and conflict.
Like Sakharov, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the second Russian laureate in the country’s history. (In 2021 Dmitry Muratov became the third Russian winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.)
Gorbachev made an incomparable contribution to the détente of international tensions. In 1987 Gorbachev and President Ronald Reagan signed an important Treaty on strategic nuclear weapons’ reduction. It was Mikhail Gorbachev’s sincerity, humanity and conviction that put an end to the decades of Cold War, pushed back the hands of the doomsday clock and gave hope to hundreds of millions of people for peaceful coexistence, freedom and democracy.
Gorbachev freed the last political prisoners in the USSR. He consistently pursued a policy of glasnost (openness). A “centrist” in conviction and character, Mikhail Gorbachev made every effort to find ground for national reconciliation, which can only ever be built on truthful and sincere reflection of history.
Moreover, Gorbachev not only talked but, in his actions, set positive examples for his people. True to his convictions, he left power voluntarily, although he could have easily used the levers at his disposal to retain power. But he did not want to disregard the will of the people and risk the bloodshed of his countrymen.
At the end of August 2022, a new book “Sakharov, Citizen of the Universe” was published, which opens with Gorbachev’s article on Andrei Sakharov. As fate would have it, that article about Sakharov was Gorbachev’s last published work during his lifetime.
Yet for many Russians today, Gorbachev remains at best a “misunderstood prophet” (the title of a collection released for his 90th birthday in March 2021).
Nikita Petrov, the Russian historian at Memorial, wrote: “Gorbachev is gone. And curses are sent in his wake only by slaves who failed to take advantage of the freedom they were granted.”
Ruslan Grinberg, the Russian economist and friend of Gorbachev, similarly observed: “He gave us all freedom – but we didn’t know what to do with it.”
More will be written about Gorbachev in the coming days, months and years. I have no doubt that history will see him as the 20th century’s Abraham Lincoln, setting more people free than anyone of his generation.
Marina Sakharov-Liberman
Granddaughter of Andrei Sakharov