Over the course of the year 1990, the then Chancellor…

“Soviet officials frequently complained about the “dependent” habits of Homo Sovieticus, his lack of initiative, and his stubborn expectation that the state would and…

— Sheila Fitzpatrick

“indeed Soviet officials frequently complained about the “dependent” habits of Homo Sovieticus, his lack of initiative, and his stubborn expectation”

— Sheila Fitzpatrick

When [Vladimir] Putin, a former lieutenant-colonel in the KGB, became Russia's president on December 31, 1999 - eight years after the failed coup attempt…

— Garry Kasparov

Scholars have been arguing for a long time whether the Soviet Union could have been turned into some kind of social democracy. I doubt…

— David Hoffman

Here I was in Estonia, doing a concert for 5,000 people, and not many people know the song My Way - Gorbachev in the…

— Robert Davi

The essential meaning of perestroika for Gorbachev and his supporters was creating and acting on alternatives to failed and dangerous policies at home and…

— Stephen Cohen

The role of Ronald Reagan had been deliberately diminished; the role of the Europeans, who, with the exception of Helmet Kohl, were often keen…

— Margaret Thatcher

Mr. Gorbachev initiated Glasnost, Perestroika, so he was already, you know, way disenchanted with the rigid Communist ideology, and he was looking to become…

— Deepak Chopra

Mr. Gorbachev has apparently stumbled onto one of the best-kept secrets in recent Soviet history: Communism doesn't work.

— Frank Zappa

“Although at the time I didn’t realize this, the Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev had begun promoting ‘glasnost’ or political openness throughout the Soviet…

— Andrea White

25 million of Russian people suddenly turned out to be outside the borders of the Russian Federation. They used to live in one state;…

— Vladimir Putin

Few people understand the magnitude of the catastrophe that happened late in the 1980s when the Communist Party had failed to modernize the Soviet…

— Vladimir Putin

I assume that our colleagues from both the United States and the European Union will proceed from current humanitarian law and ensure political freedoms…

— Vladimir Putin

The demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.

— Vladimir Putin

Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart. Whoever wants it back has no brain.

— Vladimir Putin