Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev is the President of the Soviet Union. His career was successful. He was a significant person in world politics. Thanks to him, good relations in many countries around the world were restored. It was for this that Mikhail was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. After his resignation, the politician’s opinion was listened to. He was involved in solving important political issues.
In his personal life, our hero was happy. He was married to Raisa, who until the last days of his life was his guardian angel. Currently, the man lives with his daughter’s family.
Height, weight, age. How old is Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev, whose photo in his youth and now is of interest, is approaching his 90th birthday. In 2020, he will modestly celebrate his 87th birthday. The birthday dinner will be attended by loved ones. A man does not think about the future. He thinks to live as many years as are measured out to him by higher powers.
Today it is officially known what a politician’s height, weight, and age are. How old Mikhail Gorbachev is is also no secret. A man with a height of 181 cm weighs 90 kg. He often walks along the paths of the park and leads a healthy lifestyle. The politician's favorite dish is oatmeal, which his daughter cooks for him.
Where does Mikhail Gorbachev live now?
In 1991, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics collapsed. The president of a large country has retired. He began to write memoirs and publish newspapers.
In 1996, the man tried to return to big Russian political life. He put forward his candidacy for the post of President of the Russian Federation. Only half a percent of the population supported the politician’s candidacy. After the elections, Gorbachev congratulated Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin, who won the elections.
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After the death of his beloved wife, the man became involved in politics. He created the Russian Social Democratic Party, which never entered the State Duma.
Then our hero began to think about how and where to live. He went to Germany, where he acquired a castle on Bavarian soil, in which he lives with his daughter and granddaughters.
In Bavaria, where Mikhail Gorbachev now lives, they know about his political past. The politician loves to walk along the shady alleys of the park and go fishing.
The last time the President of the Soviet Union came to Moscow was in mid-2020. He was examined in one of the capital's clinical hospitals, after which Mikhail Sergeevich left again for Germany.
Reforms of the new Secretary General
Just a month after his appointment to the highest post of the state, the new head of the party and people made efforts to boost industry and the level of well-being of the people.
USSR President Gorbachev
The new policy was called “acceleration,” but, for the most part, contributed only to the speedy development of production capacity and wear and tear of equipment. On the positive side, we can note the “green” street given to the cooperative movement in the USSR. Now enterprising people could legally engage in various types of economic and commercial activities without fear of being prosecuted. All this prepared the way for the upcoming perestroika.
Do you remember when Gorbachev was president?
NOT REALLY
In the same year, another important change was begun in the minds of Soviet people, which had ambiguous, and more negative, consequences. May 17 marked the beginning of the fight against alcohol abuse at the state level. Among the positive results of the campaign can be considered an increased average life expectancy among the population and a decrease in the level of crimes while intoxicated. At the everyday level, this meant that it was much less likely to see drunk people on the street, and for lovers of soft drinks, even in small villages, the sale of “citro” on tap appeared. There were, of course, more negative consequences.
This includes the thoughtless cutting down of rare and valuable grapes used for the production of fine wine, and the shortage of sugar in stores due to its use for moonshine, and the death of alcohol-dependent people from the use of technical and other alcohols. The campaign ended in nothing; the country lost 62 billion rubles (despite the fact that alcohol prices were significantly increased). 30 years later, the former Secretary General himself stated that the methods used in the fight for sobriety were incorrect.
Chernobyl nuclear power plant
On April 26, 1986, the worst tragedy of our time occurred - the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The reasons for what happened are still unclear, perhaps the human factor, technical issue and coincidence of circumstances are intertwined here, but its consequences are still felt.
Expert opinion
Konstantin Pavlovich Vetrov
Assistant and Advisor to the Minister of State Control of the USSR, Hero of Socialist Labor, historian, Doctor of Historical Sciences. Author of many scientific works on the history of the Soviet Union.
Especially in Ukraine and neighboring Belarus, which took the brunt of the blow. In all the former republics of the USSR, there live people who have the status of victims of the Chernobyl accident (these are liquidators, residents, and plant workers), many of them have already died prematurely from radiation exposure. The fact that, on the instructions of the first leader of the country, in order to avoid panic among the population, May Day demonstrations were held in the Ukrainian and Belarusian capitals and other cities close to the epicenter of the accident also made its evil contribution. Thus, mercantile interests were placed above human lives and health.
Two weeks after this, the country began to fight against unearned income. After another six months, it ended in nothing, because the law on individual labor activity was passed and the illegal suddenly became completely legal.
Improvements are also taking place in the area of human rights. At the end of the same year, Nobel Prize winner A.D. Sakharov returned from political exile. The fight against dissent is gradually winding down, persecution of various religious groups banned in the USSR is becoming much smaller. People are beginning to feel freer, which is expressed in everyday conversations, when Soviet citizens are no longer afraid to openly criticize the Soviet leadership for miscalculations in governing the country. All this has prepared fertile ground for further changes.
B. Yeltsin and M. Gorbachev
Since 1987, attempts have been made in the Soviet Union to carry out perestroika on the principles of democratic socialism. Glasnost is announced, which allows open discussion of the topics of Stalinist repressions, sex, domestic violence, drug addiction and others in our country.
It is proposed to reform political institutions in the country and democratize all aspects of life in Soviet society. Many previously prohibited books are allowed to be published and previously prohibited films to be viewed. Suddenly the depressive beginning of the 80s turns into the sunny end of the 80s, when people begin to hope for the best and make bright plans. But, as it turned out, not everyone was capable of correctly using the freedom that suddenly fell. Due to the gradually deteriorating economic situation and seeming impunity, the number of serious crimes is increasing and separatist aspirations are growing in all union republics.
Biography and personal life of Mikhail Gorbachev
The boy appeared in the difficult pre-war times in the Stavropol region. Mother Maria Gorbacheva did everything possible to give her sons a good education. His father, Sergei Gorbachev, survived death twice. In addition to the politician, his younger brother Alexander was raised in the family.
Since childhood, Misha had to help her parents. He studied well, and in his free time from school he worked on a collective farm. The guy became an assistant combine operator. For his work he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
At the age of 19 he joined the Komsomol, the recommendation was signed by the director and school teaching staff.
After excellent graduation from school, our hero becomes a student at Moscow Humanitarian University. Thanks to the presence of a state award, Misha was admitted to the university without exams. At the same time he was accepted into the party.
In the mid-50s, Gorbachev graduated from university with flying colors. Then he works in the Stavropol Regional Prosecutor's Office. A few days later he began working at the Stavropol City Komsomol Committee. After a short time, the guy was spotted. He was offered the position of first second and then first secretary of the regional Komsomol committee.
Our hero, in addition to law, also received an economic education.
In 1961, the young politician was sent to the CPSU Congress in Moscow. At this time, the most prominent political figures of the Soviet Union became interested in his fate. At the suggestion of L.I. Brezhnev, the young politician was transferred to work in Moscow.
From this moment on, Gorbachev’s career developed rapidly. In 1978 he was Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. Then he worked in the Politburo of the Soviet Union. After the death of Chernenko, Mikhail Sergeevich became the General Secretary of the Soviet Union.
At the end of the 80s of the last century, he became the first and last President of the Soviet Union. Among the merits of Mikhail Sergeevich are the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan and the establishment of relations with European countries and the United States of America.
In 1991, the politician resigned. He began to lead an active life outside of politics: he lectured for students, wrote books, and appeared on television.
In the campaign of the mid-90s, Mikhail Sergeevich tried again to become President, but this time of the Russian Federation. Only a small part of the voting population supported the policy.
In 1995, the former President of the Soviet Union received the Nobel Peace Prize.
At the beginning of the new millennium, the politician created the Social Democratic Party. In 2013, our hero retired. He began to live quietly and modestly in Germany. The man is constantly sick. He is treated by the most famous doctors in the world.
Gorbachev supported the Crimeans with their choice. This led to him being banned by the new Ukrainian authorities from entering the country.
The biography and personal life of Mikhail Gorbachev are of interest to lovers of Russian history.
The politician had only one wife, who was happy with Mikhail Sergeevich until her death. After the woman’s death, Gorbachev began to live with his daughter Ira and two granddaughters.
Funeral: date of death of Mikhail Gorbachev
As often happens, in 2013 there were rumors that Mikhail Gorbachev had died. Then many media outlets picked up the news that the first and only President of the USSR had passed away. By the way, one of the first to report the news that Mikhail Gorbachev had died was a representative of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The information seemed so reliable that many began to look for where the influential politician was buried in order to guide him on his last journey. But a day later, it became known that the information was not true. Mikhail Gorbachev, fortunately, turned out to be alive and still lives in Germany.
And today you can find information and even videos on the topic “Funeral: date of death of Mikhail Gorbachev.”
Family and children of Mikhail Gorbachev
As already mentioned, the family and children of Mikhail Gorbachev currently live in their own castle in Bavaria. The politician has a beloved daughter, Irina, who takes care of her father. She works at the Gorbachev Foundation.
The President is the grandfather of two granddaughters. They have long grown up and become mothers of charming children themselves. The eldest granddaughter's name is Ksenia. She is engaged in modeling and raising her daughter Sasha. The President's second granddaughter is named Anastasia. She works in her own newspaper publishing house.
Our hero met his future wife during his student years. The wedding was noisy, student. When the young husband went to Stavropol, Raisa, like a real wife, went with him. The couple did not separate for a minute. They were a beautiful couple. In the mid-90s, a woman became seriously ill. Treatment abroad did not produce results. She soon passed away.
The former politician was proud of his ancestors. It is known that his grandfathers were subjected to repression in the mid-30s of the last century. During the Great Patriotic War, Mikhail Gorbachev's father was at the front. The family received a funeral service for him, but it turned out that the funeral service was sent by mistake. The man survived and returned home. He worked on a collective farm all his life.
The politician's mother was kind and sympathetic. She did everything for her husband and sons. A woman was buried next to her husband in the Stavropol region.
Mikhail Sergeevich had a younger brother. He worked all his life in one of the military units. The man passed away at the beginning of the new millennium.
Family
But Gorbachev's biography would be incomplete without a story about his family. After all, it was family relationships that played an important role in the life of the Soviet leader.
Mikhail Gorbachev met his future wife Raisa Maksimovna Titarenko while still a student. In 1953 they got married in a modest wedding. Since then, Raisa Gorbacheva has become not just the life partner and homemaker of the famous politician, but also his faithful assistant in government affairs. She organized receptions, established charitable foundations, and held meetings with the first ladies of other countries. Such behavior by the wife of the Soviet leader was new to citizens of the Union.
In 1957, Mikhail Sergeevich and Raisa Maksimovna gave birth to their only daughter, Irina, who, in turn, in her marriage to Anatoly Virgansky gave the Gorbachev couple granddaughters, Ksenia and Anastasia.
A real blow for the former Soviet leader was the death of his faithful lifelong friend Raisa Maksimovna Gorbacheva from leukemia in 1999.
Daughter of Mikhail Gorbachev - Irina Virganskaya-Gorbacheva
In 1957, the popular politician became the father of a charming baby. Her parents named her Irishka. The girl never upset her parents. She studied well at school and was the best student in her class.
After receiving the certificate, the girl enters a medical institute. After graduating, she realized that she had made a mistake in choosing a profession and became an economist.
In the late 70s, Mikhail Gorbachev’s daughter, Irina Virganskaya-Gorbacheva, fell in love for the first time. Her chosen one was a vascular surgeon working at the First City Hospital named Alexander. The woman's two daughters were born in the marriage.
At the beginning of the difficult 90s, frequent quarrels began to arise in the family, which led to a breakup.
In 2020, Irina married businessman Andrei Trukhachev.
The woman works for her father's charitable foundation. She tries to prolong the man's life for many years.
Mikhail Gorbachev's wife - Raisa Gorbacheva
At the end of the last century, Mikhail Gorbachev’s wife, Raisa Gorbacheva, passed away in Germany, where she was treated for leukemia for several years. The politician was terribly worried about her departure. He even thought about death. But the man forced himself to live for the sake of his daughter and granddaughters.
The future spouses met at a student party. After some time they got married. Raisa became a real guardian angel for the young politician. She traveled with him everywhere, advised him on his work, and worked on his memoirs.
The beloved wife of the President of the Soviet Union is laid to rest at the Vagankovskoye metropolitan cemetery. Her grave is located near the burial places of Vladimir Vysotsky and Sergei Yesenin.
Foreign policy of M. S. Gorbachev
Even before coming to the heights of power, Gorbachev had the opportunity to visit abroad several times, including to capitalist countries. Communicating with the politicians of those countries, he made a much more favorable impression on them than the orthodox representatives of the old formation, who saw capitalists only as ideological enemies. The young politician was more open, amiable and democratic. The Canadian Prime Minister was the first to appreciate this. Probably, many in the West dreamed that we could quickly come to an agreement with such the first leader of the USSR! Now their dream has come true.
USSR President Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev and Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Anatoly Lukyanov, 1990
Expert opinion
Konstantin Pavlovich Vetrov
Assistant and Advisor to the Minister of State Control of the USSR, Hero of Socialist Labor, historian, Doctor of Historical Sciences. Author of many scientific works on the history of the Soviet Union.
However, despite all this, relations between the USA and the USSR in the first years of Gorbachev's rule remained habitually cold and strained. The first meeting of the leaders of the two countries in the fall of 1985 ended, by and large, in nothing. But the meeting in Reykjavik a year later became a milestone in the new bilateral relationship. The General Secretary clearly showed the whole world that the Soviet Union is ready to pursue a new, softer and more peaceful foreign policy course. The reasons for this were not only political, but also economic.
In order to continue the arms race with the United States, the USSR was forced to spend up to a quarter of the country's budget on military needs. In conditions when the country's economy was experiencing a clear crisis, this was both unreasonable and impossible. In support of this course, the Warsaw Pact countries presented a new military doctrine, which implied a unilateral reduction of weapons to the necessary defensive minimum. An unexpected boost in movement in this direction was the change of the USSR Minister of Defense. After the scandalous landing of a German citizen's plane on Red Square, instead of S.L. Sokolov, this post was taken by the more flexible D.T. Yazov. The next milestones were the Soviet Union's moratorium on nuclear testing and the Treaty on the Elimination of Short- and Medium-Range Missiles. Beginning in 1987, tension in relations between the two leading countries of the world decreased and by the time of the collapse of the USSR it had completely disappeared.
The country's leaders began to prepare the ground for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, which took place in 1989. The pressure and influence on the European countries of the socialist camp also began to decrease. Military contingents from these countries were gradually withdrawn, and they all changed the political system. The Cold War came to an end.
Instagram and Wikipedia Mikhail Gorbachev
Instagram and Wikipedia of Mikhail Gorbachev are searched by history buffs on the World Wide Web.
On Wikipedia you can learn about the childhood and youth years of the outstanding political figure. This is about his political career. The page contains information about the man’s relatives. You can also find out what the President of a large country did after his resignation.
The politician does not have his own pages on social networks. He leads the quiet life of a simple pensioner. Gorbachev ignores the Internet, considering it a cesspool filled with all sorts of rumors.
From party functionary to general secretary
After this, the promising party worker had the opportunity to both begin a scientific career and become a prominent KGB officer (in 1969, Yu. Andropov almost appointed him as his deputy).
Gorbachev during his political career
However, Gorbachev further moved up the party career levels and in 1973 became a candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. Immediately after this, he could have become the head of the Propaganda Department of the CPSU Central Committee, but, on the advice of Suslov, he refused. He could have become the Prosecutor General of the USSR, but his candidacy was not approved. The prevailing circumstances slowly but surely led him to the pinnacle of political power in the country.
On November 27, at the next Plenum he was elected Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. Next month the Gorbachev family is moving to live in the capital.
Having outlived two more general secretaries, who in total ruled for only about 3 years, M. S. Gorbachev waited for his finest hour. At a meeting of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee on March 11, 1985, he was elected to the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. Gorbachev, 54, became the country's youngest first leader in recent years. Many, tired of weak old men in power, wanted something new and decisive changes. The Soviet people received all this in full. Even more than many would like.