Gorbachev awarded Russia’s highest honour

RUSSIAN President Dmitry Medvedev decorated Mikhail Gorbachev with the highest state honour yesterday in a rare recognition for the last Soviet leader, who is often ignored at home.

Medvedev opened his suburban Moscow residence to Gorbachev on his 80th birthday, exchanging jokes with the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize winner and awarding him a tsarist-era medal that now serves as Russia’s top state honour.

Many Russians refuse to forgive Gorbachev for overseeing the demise of the Soviet empire and Medvedev conceded his role in history “can be assessed in different ways”.