World leaders mourn Mikhail Gorbachev as rare figure who changed the world

Mr Gorbachev and Vladimir Putin, pictured in 2004 (dpa via AP)

The passing of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has been mourned internationally as the loss of a rare leader who changed the world and, for a time, boosted hopes for peace between the superpowers.

But the man who died at age 91 on Tuesday was also reviled by many of his countrymen who blamed him for the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union and its diminution as a superpower.