Mikhail Gorbachev
The botched coup that presaged the end of the Soviet Union
In August 1991, Vladimir Kryuchkov, the head of the KGB, attempted to oust President Gorbachev. But the plot’s failure was guaranteed when the army refused to fire on protestors
When will Ronald Reagan get the recognition he deserves?
Max Boot’s contention that Reagan was a lightweight pragmatist who played little part in reviving America or winning the Cold War is absurdly revisionist
The ultimate gamble
This is an important and topical book. Mary Sarotte traces the difficult course of Russia’s relations with Europe and the…
Portrait of the week
Home Liz Truss, the contender for the Conservative party leadership who is expected to become prime minister next Tuesday, resisted…
The humanity of Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev, the final President of the Soviet Union who died last night, was remarkable both as an international politician…
Gorbachev was no saint. But he was a kind of hero
Mikhail Gorbachev is dead at the age of 91, and in a way I feel orphaned. I became fascinated by…
Gorbachev’s failed experiment
Thirty years ago the Soviet Union was guttering to its close. Those of us who were there remember the exhilarating…
Rich man, bankrupt, thief
‘Everyone’s heard of Ghislaine Maxwell,’ says the blurb for Power: The Maxwells, a podcast series launched last month. ‘But there’s…
The Chernobyl catastrophe was a foregone conclusion
In the early days of the atomic age, Soviet students debated whether it was nobler to become a physicist or…
Margaret Thatcher’s most surprising virtue: imagination
Margaret Thatcher’s second administration saw bitter divisions at home, but abroad the breakthrough in Anglo-Soviet relations really did change history, says Philip Hensher
