Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev as he bids the last farewell to his wife Raisa Gorbacheva during the funeral ceremony in Moscow, Russia, 23 September 1999 (reissued 30 August 2022). According to a Moscow Central Clinical Hospital statement, former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev has died at the age of 91. As a supporter of the de-Stalinization programs of his predecessor Nikita Khrushchev, Gorbachev initiated numerous reforms during his tenure. He signed a nuclear arms treaty with the United States and withdrew the Soviet Union from the Soviet-Afghan war. His policies created freedom of speech and press, and decentralized fiscal policy planning and execution to increase efficiency. Gorbachev was the last leader of the Soviet Union, overseeing Russia’s transition from one party rule to fragile democracy. (Photo by Sergey Chirikov/EPA/EFE)

Workers in the first decade of June 2024 lacquering and organising parasols in neat lines to dry in the sunshine in Kampung Budaya Sindangbarang, West Java, so they will be preserved for longer. (Photo by Riza Amrullah/Solent News)

An animal runs through a field of grass while fleeing the Park Fire in the Cohasset community in Butte County, Calif., July 25, 2024. (Photo by Noah Berger/AP Photo)

Tourists watch roaring torrent carrying a large amount of yellow sediment at the Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River on August 15, 2024 in Yan'an, Shaanxi Province of China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

Archer Sheetal Devi from India prepares to fire during the Paralympic Games in Paris on Thursday, August 29, 2024. (Photo by Felix Scheyer/AP Photo)

The exhibition “All the colors of Warhol” on July 8, 2024 was opened in the SALON Gallery, the Museum of the City of Belgrade, organized by the Museum of the City of Belgrade and the Belgrade Festival Center of CEBEF, and will last until the end of the month. (Photo by L.L./ATAImages)

Members of the Krewe of Joan of Arc parade as Twelfth Night kicks off Carnival season, in New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 6, 2025. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

Viking re-enactors from the Gullinkambi group pose for pictures as part of the Jorvik Viking Festival on February 21, 2025. 100s of Viking re-enactors will march through the streets of York tomorrow. (Photo by James Glossop/The Times & Sunday Times)