Mikhail Gorbachev, the former president of the Soviet Union, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 91.
He was a key figure in the conclusion of the Cold War.
He was being treated at a hospital, which stated without further explanation that he passed away from a "severe and protracted sickness."
In the late 1980s, the Soviet economy was opened up and society was liberalised thanks to Gorbachev's signature policies of glasnost and perestroika.
His defining policies face the nation's past while collaborating with Western leaders on arms control.
He was also in charge of the USSR's management of Chernobyl and the Soviet Union's troop withdrawal from Afghanistan after a roughly ten-year military war.
In 1990, he received the Nobel Peace Prize.
In an interview, Gorbachev claimed that seeing the Nazi occupation of his hamlet as a young kid had a profound impact on his life.
In 1985, he was the Communist Party's rising star.