The former President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev attends a press conference in Passau, Germany, 3 July 2008. Gorbachev and other politicians prepare the upcoming 8th Saint Petersburg dialogue, a conference for German-Russian understanding. Photo: ARMIN WEIGEL (Photo by ARMIN WEIGEL / DPA / dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP)
A file picture released in 1990 shows Stavropol's Communist Party official Mikhail Gorbatchev gives a speech during a local rally in the 1970s. (Photo by Vladimir Velenouri / SCANPIX SWEDEN / AFP)