In archive footage taken in the German capital in October 2014, former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev is seen attending the inauguration of an exhibition commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall.  

During the event, the ex-head of state gave a speech and also left his handprints on a fragment of the Berlin Wall.  

According to media reports that day, Gorbachev noted that tensions were once again rising in Europe and the world.  

"Again we have to think about not missing, not missing, not missing, not missing, but preserving everything that has been done in previous years," the politician said in his address.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the first and last president of the USSR, died at the age of 91 on Tuesday at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow.  

According to media reports, he passed away after a serious and prolonged illness.

Mikhail Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931. He graduated in law from Moscow State University in 1955 and in 1967 completed a correspondence course at the Stavropol Agricultural Institute (now the Stavropol State Agrarian University).   

Gorbachev joined the CPSU in 1952, became a member of the Central Committee in 1971 and was later elected Secretary General in 1985 after Konstantin Chernenko's death.   

He was elected the first president of the USSR in March 1990 and stepped down on December 25, 1991.   

Gorbachev became the main proponent of glasnost ('openness') and perestroika ('reconstruction').

He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 and is widely considered to have singlehandedly ended the Cold War.  

After stepping down as president of the USSR, he pursued social and literary activities.