On Tuesday, the last president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, passed away at the age of 91, according to Russian news agencies citing hospital officials.
"Mikhail Gorbachev passed away tonight after a serious and protracted disease," the Interfax news agency reported citing a statement from Russia's Central Clinical Hospital.
Gorbachev was credited with many accomplishments during his time as president, including ending the Cold War without bloodshed, overseeing the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, six years after taking office in 1885 and taking on bold reforms as the leader of his nation.
The former Soviet president helped remove the Iron Curtain that had caused division in Europe since the conclusion of World War II while also helping create arms reduction deals with the U.S.
For many of his efforts, in 1990, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, partly because he was able to break the Soviet sphere peacefully.
Gorbachev will be buried in Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery, where his wife Raisa, who passed away in 1999, is buried, according to reports from Tass.
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