Mikhail Gorbachev, last Soviet leader, passes away at 91

(UPDATE) MOSCOW: Mikhail Gorbachev, who changed the course of history by triggering the demise of the Soviet Union and was one of the great figures of the 20th century, has died in Moscow aged 91.

His death was announced on Tuesday by Russian news agencies, which said Gorbachev had died at a central hospital in Moscow "after a serious and long illness." Gorbachev, in power between 1985 and 1991, helped bring US-Soviet relations out of a deep freeze and was the last surviving Cold War leader.