BRUSSELS, August 31. /TASS/. First and sole Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev helped to fundamentally change global security, the European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said on Wednesday.

"Mikhail Gorbachev brought with Glasnost and Perestroika a wind of freedom to the Soviet bloc. He helped end the Cold War and fundamentally change global security, ushering in an era of mutually beneficial cooperation. An era that vanished and is urgently needed again," Borrell wrote on his Twitter account.

Gorbachev, who led the Soviet Union in 1985-1991, passed away in Moscow on August 30 at the age of 91.