Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the USSR, who brought down the Iron Curtain, died

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Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the former Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991, died at the age of 91.

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Gorbachev died after a long illness, according to Russian state news agencies.

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"Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev passed on tonight after a serious

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and long disease," the Central Clinical Hospital detailed, RIA Novosti investigates Tuesday.

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The man credited with introducing key political and economic

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reforms to the USSR and helping to end the Cold War had been in poor health for some time.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences, Dmitry Peskov told RIA Novosti.