Lubomir Strougal, Czechoslovak communist leader, dies at 98
February 6, 2023 GMTPRAGUE (AP) — Lubomir Strougal, a Czechoslovak communist-era leader who served as prime minister for a record length of more than 18 years has died. He was 98.
His death was confirmed to media by former Communist Party lawmaker Jiri Dolejs on Monday.
Final goodbye: Recalling influential people who died in 2022
December 31, 2022 GMTOne would have to go back hundreds of years to find a monarch who reigned longer than Queen Elizabeth II.
In her 70 years on the throne, she helped modernize the monarchy across decades of enormous social change, royal marriages and births, and family scandals.
Fallen colossus: USSR’s terror, triumphs began 100 years ago
December 29, 2022 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — With its brutality, technological accomplishments and rigid ideology, the Soviet Union loomed over the world like an immortal colossus.
It led humankind into outer space, exploded the most powerful nuclear weapon ever, and inflicted bloody purges and cruel labor camps on its own citizens while portraying itself as the vanguard of enlightened revolution.
Medals, mementos from Colin Powell estate go up for auction
November 3, 2022 GMTALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Colin Powell's career spanned some of the most significant moments of the last 40 years so it's no surprise that an auction of items from his estate reflects that: gifts and medals from foreign dignitaries and presidents, photos of his swearing-in as secretary of state.
General who led Syrian bombing is new face of Russian war
October 21, 2022 GMTThe general carrying out President Vladimir Putin's new military strategy in Ukraine has a reputation for brutality — for bombing civilians in Russia's campaign in Syria. He also played a role in the deaths of three protesters in Moscow during the failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991 that hastened the demise of the Soviet Union.
Analysis: Russia’s war in Ukraine reaches a critical moment
September 30, 2022 GMTLONDON (AP) — There are moments in history that appear as critical to the world as they are terrifying.
Just this century: the 9/11 attacks in 2001; the U.S. “shock-and-awe″ war on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq two years later; the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 killed millions and upended life; and most recently the Feb.
AP Week in Pictures: Europe and Africa
September 9, 2022 GMTSEPT. 2-8, 2022
From the breaking news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II in Britain and the funeral of Mikhail Gorbachev in Russia to the first game week of Champions League action in Austria and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, this photo gallery highlights some of the most compelling images made or published in the past week by The Associated Press from Europe and Africa.
German parliament honors Gorbachev, who enabled unification
September 7, 2022 GMTBERLIN (AP) — Germany's parliament paid tribute to Mikhail Gorbachev on Wednesday, holding a minute of silence for the former Soviet leader who paved the way for German reunification 32 years ago.
US ambassador to Russia leaves post as Ukraine war drags on
September 4, 2022 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, ended his tenure as America’s top diplomat in Moscow on Sunday after nearly three years, spanning the Trump and Biden administrations, and will retire from a lengthy career in government service.
Gorbachev’s marriage, like his politics, broke the mold
September 4, 2022 GMTMikhail Gorbachev was laid to rest Saturday in Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery next to his wife, Raisa, with whom he shared the world stage in a visibly close and loving marriage that was unprecedented for a Soviet leader.
Gorbachev’s home village remembers him well
September 3, 2022 GMTPRIVOLNOYE, Russia (AP) — As Moscow paid last respects to Mikhail Gorbachev on Saturday, residents of the far-away village where he spent his youth lauded him too.
Gorbachev buried in Moscow in funeral snubbed by Putin
September 3, 2022 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — Russians who came for a last look at former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Saturday mourned both the man and his policies that gave them hope. President Vladimir Putin claimed to be too busy to attend.
Putin ally: US dream of Russian breakup is road to doom
September 3, 2022 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — A top Russian official accused the U.S. and its allies on Saturday of trying to provoke the country's breakup and warned that such attempts could lead to doomsday.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, warned the West that an attempt to push Russia toward collapse would amount to a “chess game with Death.”
Gorbachev to be buried in low-key funeral snubbed by Putin
September 2, 2022 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is set to be buried Saturday in a ceremony falling short of a state funeral that will not be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin or top international leaders.
Covering Gorbachev: AP remembers his wit, wisdom, warmth
September 2, 2022 GMTWhen news hit that Mikhail Gorbachev had died at age 91, Associated Press journalists around the world began sharing their “Gorby” stories from covering the last Soviet leader or interviewing him in Russia or abroad in the three decades that followed.
Gorbachev remembered fondly in Germany for enabling unity
September 1, 2022 GMTBERLIN (AP) — Mikhail Gorbachev was enduringly popular in Germany for enabling the country's reunification after four decades of post-World War II division — and setting the scene for the peaceful collapse of communism that made it possible.
Putin pays tribute to Gorbachev but won’t attend his funeral
September 1, 2022 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin privately laid flowers at Mikhail Gorbachev’s coffin on Thursday, snubbing the weekend’s public funeral in a move reflecting the Kremlin’s uneasiness about Gorbachev’s legacy.
History’s bookends: Putin reversed many Gorbachev reforms
September 1, 2022 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — One stood for freedom, openness, peace and closer ties with the outside world. The other is jailing critics, muzzling journalists, pushing his country deeper into isolation and waging Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II.
Kremlin offers mixed view of Gorbachev’s historic role
August 31, 2022 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin treaded carefully Wednesday reacting to Mikhail Gorbachev's death, praising his prominent role in reshaping 20th-century history but noting his “romantic” view of the West.
Gorbachev’s funeral, burial will reflect his varied legacy
August 31, 2022 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — The funeral and burial plans for Mikhail Gorbachev sum up the crosscurrents of his legacy — final farewells are to be said in the same place where his rigid Soviet predecessors also lay, but he will be buried near men who broke the Soviet mold.
Gorbachev mourned as rare world leader but some still bitter
August 31, 2022 GMTBERLIN (AP) — Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union and for many the man who restored democracy to then-communist-ruled European nations, was saluted Wednesday as a rare leader who changed the world and for a time brought hope for peace among the superpowers.
Major events in the life and career of Mikhail Gorbachev
August 31, 2022 GMTA timeline of major events in the life of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who has died at age 91.
Slice of life: Gorbachev’s Pizza Hut ad a time capsule
August 31, 2022 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — Call it a slice of life. The television commercial that Mikhail Gorbachev did for Pizza Hut 25 years ago might be seen as a 60-second gloss of his career, both cheerful and glum.
War protest: Statues fall as Europe purges Soviet monuments
August 31, 2022 GMTWARSAW, Poland (AP) — In the Latvian capital of Riga, an obelisk that soared high above a park to commemorate the Soviet Army’s capture of that nation in 1944 was toppled last week.
Mikhail Gorbachev, who steered Soviet breakup, dead at 91
August 31, 2022 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — Mikhail Gorbachev, who set out to revitalize the Soviet Union but ended up unleashing forces that led to the collapse of communism, the breakup of the state and the end of the Cold War, died Tuesday.
Gorbachev, who redirected course of 20th century, dies at 91
August 31, 2022 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — Before Mikhail Gorbachev came along, the Soviet Union seemed an immovable superpower in perpetual antagonism to the United States. With a breathtaking series of reforms, Gorbachev changed all that — and redirected the course of the 20th century.
As Gorbachev resigned, AP photographer snapped historic shot
December 25, 2021 GMTIt was a landmark event that ended an era: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's resignation 30 years ago finalized the USSR’s demise.
Gorbachev’s resignation 30 years ago marked the end of USSR
December 25, 2021 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — People strolling across Moscow's snowy Red Square on the evening of Dec. 25, 1991 were surprised to witness one of the 20th century’s most pivotal moments — the Soviet red flag over the Kremlin pulled down and replaced with the Russian Federation's tricolor.
EXPLAINER: Moscow’s rocky relationship with NATO alliance
December 14, 2021 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — A Russian military buildup near Ukraine has raised fears in Kyiv and the West that Moscow might invade its neighbor.
The tensions over Ukraine come amid a new low in relations between Russia and NATO, which once were so warm that President Vladimir Putin even floated the prospect of his country joining the military alliance.
USSR’s death blow was struck 30 years ago in a hunting lodge
December 8, 2021 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — When the leaders of the Soviet Union's three Slavic republics met at a secluded hunting lodge on Dec. 8, 1991, the fate of the vast country hung in the balance. With a stroke of their pens, they delivered a death blow to the USSR, triggering shockwaves that are still reverberating three decades later in the tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
Hardline coup set the stage for Soviet collapse 30 years ago
August 18, 2021 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — The world held its breath 30 years ago when a group of top Communist officials ousted Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and flooded Moscow with tanks.
But instead of bringing a rollback of liberal reforms and a return to Cold War confrontations, the August 1991 coup collapsed in just three days and precipitated the breakup of the Soviet Union a few months later, an event the plotters claimed they were trying to prevent.
German president thanks Gorbachev for role in reunification
November 5, 2019 GMTBERLIN (AP) — Germany's president is thanking former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for his role in enabling his country's reunification...
Berlin Wall’s fall stokes memories of lost hopes in Russia
Gorbachev praises Bush for political abilities, character
December 1, 2018 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Saturday expressed his "deep condolences" to the family of former U.S. President George H.W. Bush and all Americans following his death.
Gorbachev worked closely with Bush to bring an end to the Cold War in the late 1980s and 1990s, and lauded the former president for his abilities as a politician and his personal character...
The Latest: Gorbachev has high hopes for Putin-Trump summit
June 28, 2018 GMTMOSCOW (AP) — The Latest on the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin (all times local):
7:20 p.m.
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev says the next month's U.S.-Russian summit could become a historic event.
Former President George HW Bush buoyed by tributes to wife
April 19, 2018 GMTHOUSTON (AP) — In his first public comments since his wife's death, former President George H.W. Bush said Wednesday that he used to tease his spouse of 73 years that he had a complex about how much people liked her...
Search is on for the best summit site for Trump, Kim
March 10, 2018 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev chose Reykjavik, Iceland. Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin huddled at Yalta. Dwight Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev will always have Paris.
‘Tear down this firewall’ - US looks to expand Cuba internet
February 7, 2018 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — A new U.S. task force ordered by President Donald Trump warned Wednesday that Cuba's government uses internet restrictions to stifle dissent and vowed to find ways the United States could expand access and freedom for Cubans online...