As General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev was instrumental in bringing the Cold War to an end and ensuring that humanity and our planet does not suffer nuclear devastation.
In 1970, he was elected to the USSR Supreme Soviet.
From 1971 till 1991, Gorbachev was a member of the Communist Party Central Committee.
From November 1978, Gorbachev was a Central Committee secretary in charge of agriculture. In 1978, Gorbachev moved to Moscow for permanent residence. In 1979 -1980, he was a candidate to the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party Central Committee.
From October 1980, till August, 1991 he was a member of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party Central Committee.
On March 11 1985, Gorbachev was elected as the General Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee at the extraordinary Session of the Central Committee.
A member of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet (1985-1988).
In 1985-1988, Gorbachev radically changed the course of the Soviet foreign policy. At the XXVII Congress of the Communist Party (February-March,1986) he unveiled the Soviet program of nuclear-free world to the 2000.
From October 1988, M.G. was a chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.
From May 1989, till March 1990 M.G. was a chairman of the USSR Supreme Soviet.
Gorbachev was elected as the President at the third Congress of People's Deputies, held in March 1990.
Deputy of the 8-11-th USSR Supreme Soviet.
Deputy of the 10-11-th Russian Federation Supreme Soviet.
On August 19 1991 Gorbachev's companions-in-arms attempted to carry out coup d'etat
On August 21 1991, Gorbachev returned to Moscow after coup d'etat was failed due to the Russian authorities' efforts. Since that practically all Gorbachev's decisions were coordinated with the Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
At the end of August Gorbachev resigned from the post of General Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee.
On December 25 1991, speaking on T.V., he resigned from the post of the Soviet President. "for principal considerations".
On December 25 1991, Gorbachev also signed a decree on transferring control over the strategic nuclear weapons to the Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Since June 1993 Gorbachev has been the President of the "Green Cross International".
On December 2 1995, in the interview to the "Novaya Ezhenedelnaya Gazeta" (the "New daily") he publicly declared his intention to take part in the Presidential elections. According to Gorbachev's words, he became firmly convinced in his decision, meeting people in the regions.
On January 27 1996, an initiative group was created to promote Mikhail Gorbachov to the presidential post. The Former Federation council Deputy, Alexey Manannikov, heads its organizing committee.
Gorbachev's address "to all democratic forces" - "Give a chance to people"-was circulated by the Initiative group on March, l 1996. It has an appeal to urgently gather the All-Russian democratic forum and to work out common strategy on the eve of the P residential elections in Russia. "All the democratic leaders, parties and movements have to unite their efforts and be the single team. It's necessary to agree upon all the key-posts in the Government before the Presidential elections. This information must be available to all people," the address says.
On March 12 1996, Alexey Manannikov told journalists that M.Gorbachev had managed to collect 1 million voters' signatures necessary to register as an official candidate by the Central Electoral Commission. The organizing committee chairman noted that a 11 the necessary documents would be delivered to the Central Electoral Commission at the end of the month. They will continue collecting voters' signatures to have some reserve.
On Mach 29 1996, at the press-conference in the Central House of journalists M.Gorbachev addressed to the Russian President Boris Yeltsin with a statement. It was called "Elections must be fair and equal". This was urged by the fact that the incumbent president had created a council to organize his reelection. Boris Yeltsin is the head of the Council. The statement stressed that Boris Yeltsin had violated legislation on election campaign. He included some official is to his election campaign Council. They are: the Russian Prime-Minister, director of FSC, as well as, president of the independant T.V. channel (NTV). The copies of the statement were sent to both Chambers of the Russian Federal Assembly, to the Constitutional Court and to the Central Electoral Commission.
On April,4 the Initiative group , promoted M.Gorbachev to the presidential post, delivered the documents necessary to register as a presidential candidate to the Central Electoral Commission. There are 1 410 000 voters' signatures in support of his candidacy. The majority of signatures were collected in St.-Petersburg (over 70.000) and in Moscow (57.000).
