(ANSA) - ROME, AUGUST 31 - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson paid tribute to Mikhail Gorbachev - the last Soviet leader who died yesterday in Russia at the age of 91 - putting his figure in contrast with that of the current Russian president Vladimir Putin, against the backdrop of the war in progress.
"I am saddened - wrote Johnson on Twitter - to learn of his death. I have always admired the courage and integrity with which he brought the Cold War to a peaceful conclusion. In a time marked by Putin's aggression in Ukraine, his unsparing commitment to open the Soviet society remains an example for all of us ".
"A unique statesman, who changed the course of history": this is how the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, recalled Gorbachev instead.