With world leaders paying tribute to Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, following his death Tuesday, POLITICO takes a look back at significant moments from his life in pictures.
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Mikhail Gorbachev and former U.S. Presidents George Bush, left, and Ronald Reagan, center, in New York on December 7, 1988. Both Americans initially met the successor to Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko with skepticism. But their mistrust turned to mutual respect, and for Reagan, even friendship, over the years. | AP Photo/Scott Applewhite -
Gorbachev meets former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Before he came to power, Thatcher described him as “a man one could do business with,” a comment which Gorbachev later said helped him forge a “mutual understanding” with former US President Reagan and other world leaders | Hulton Archive/Getty Images -
Gorbachev embraces former East German premier Erich Honecker with a fraternal kiss in East Berlin on April 17, 1986. Honecker had been instrumental in building the Berlin Wall, and even in January 1989, boasted that it would still be standing “even in 100 years.” Ten months later, it fell, an event for which Gorbachev is lauded by the West for helping make happen | WIESELES/AFP via Getty Images -
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Gorbachev attend the opening of an exhibition on the latter’s life on February 24, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. After his passing, Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, said in a statement on her website that the former Soviet leader had “fundamentally changed her life.” She added: “I will never forget the pictures of his meeting with Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl in the Caucasus in 1990, when the unity of Germany in peace and freedom became within reach.” | Jesco Denzel/BPA-Pool/Getty Images -
Pope John Paul II greets Gorbachev in Rome on December 1, 1989. It was the first-ever meeting of a Kremlin chief and a pontiff. | Derrick Ceyrac/AFP via Getty Images -
Former U.S. President George Bush shakes hands with Gorbachev during a joint press-conference after the first U.S.-Soviet summit meeting. This summit is viewed as the official end of the Cold War | Jerome Delay/AFP via Getty Images -
Reagan and Gorbachev at the former’s ranch in California on May 2, 1992. That same year, Gorbachev became the first recipient of the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award. | AP Photo/Bob Galbraith -
Former Cuban President Fidel Castro and Gorbachev shake hands after signing the first “Friendship and Collaboration Treaty” on April 2, 1989 in Havana | STR/AFP via Getty Images -
Gorbachev kisses Hungarian President János Kádár upon his arrival in Budapest on June 8, 1986. It was his first visit abroad since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on April 26 | Daniel Janin/AFP via Getty Images -
Gorbachev converses with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle on April 7, 1989 | Andre de Wet/AFP via Getty Images -
Gorbachev and former U.N. Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar on December 7, 1988 | Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images -
“Gorby gone wild”: Gorbachev drives a golf cart with former U.S. President George Bush in it at Camp David on June 2, 1990 | CNP/ABACA/Shutterstock (13354552b) -
Gorbachev and former Chinese President Yang Shangkun during a welcoming ceremony at Beijing Airport on May 15, 1989 | Pool photo/AFP via Getty Images -
Merkel meets Gorbachev in Berlin on November 10, 2014. Upon hearing of his death, Merkel said: “He exemplified how a single statesman can change the world for the better” | Sandra Steins/Bundesregierung via Getty Images -
Gorbachev and Reagan sign the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty at the Washington Summit on December 8, 1987. This superpower document eliminated an entire range of nuclear weapons, a first | AFP via Getty Images -
Gorbachev and Bulgarian Chairman of the Council of State Todor Zhivkov speak to the citizens of Sofia in October 1985 | Keystone/Getty Images -
Gorbachev and Reagan during a dinner hosted by the former at the Soviet Embassy on December 9, 1987. The Soviet leader’s friendly relations with the West led to him being referred to affectionately by the nickname “Gorby” | Jerome Delay/AFP via Getty Images -
Mikhail Gorbachev touches the casket of former U.S. President Reagan in Washington on June 10, 2004. Reagan’s wife, former first lady Nancy Reagan, later said she had been “extremely touched” that he had attended her husband’s funeral, according to a statement by Fred Ryan, chairman of the board of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation | Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images -
Gorbachev appears on stage during the finale of the Gorby 80 Gala at the Royal Albert Hall on March 30, 2011 in London, England | Ian Gavan/Getty Images
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