Former right-hand man of former Soviet leader Gorbachev passed away | Abroad

Born in Siberia, Ligachev will be remembered above all as the mastermind behind Russia’s anti-alcohol campaign in the 1980s, which made Gorbachev hugely unpopular among Russians. Between 1985 and 1987, the Russian leadership enforced a partial alcohol ban, which benefited public health but also led to many illegal alcohol sales.

As a high-ranking official in the Communist Party, Ligachev initially supported Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost and perestroika (openness and reform), but in the late 1980s he increasingly turned against that policy. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ligachev called supporting Gorbachev his greatest mistake.

Boris Yeltsin, Gorbachev’s successor, also received criticism from Ligachev. In 1988 the two clashed at a Communist Party conference. His statement “Boris, you are wrong” subsequently became the slogan of a political campaign against Yeltsin. The statement could be read on posters, banners and buttons throughout the country. Ligachev’s 2012 memoirs were also called ‘Boris was wrong’.

Yeltsin died in 2007 at the age of 76. Gorbachev is still alive and 90 years old.

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