Gorbachev was seen as paving the way for the end of the Cold War

Prague (AP) – Czech politicians have honored the life’s work of the late Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Inspired by the Czechoslovak reform movement Prague Spring of the 1960s, he gave the people in the USSR hope for freedom, respect for human rights and a better future, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky wrote on Twitter. The liberal-conservative head of government Petr Fiala emphasized that Gorbachev had contributed to the fall of communism and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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Defense Minister Jana Cernochova emphasized that the politician, who died in Moscow on Tuesday evening at the age of 91, was “a symbol of the end of the Cold War”. “His reforms were too radical for some, too moderate for others – that’s why his career didn’t last long,” the 48-year-old noted. In November 1999, Gorbachev received the highest state award in the Czech Republic in Prague. The then President and former dissident Vaclav Havel (1936-2011) presented him with the Order of the White Lion.