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Last Soviet leader Gorbachev’s autobiography to be released on September 16

The book contains a lot of personal stories, as well as Gorbachev’s views on the present-day leaders and events, according to the publishing house

Mikhail Gorbachev Dmitriy Serebryakov/TASS

Mikhail Gorbachev

© Dmitriy Serebryakov/TASS

MOSCOW, September 1. /TASS/. Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s autobiography book dubbed I Remain An Optimist will be released on September 16, a source in the Eksmo-AST publishing group said on Friday.

"On September 16, Mikhail Gorbachev’s book, I Remain An Optimist, will be released. It is his first official autobiography aimed at a general audience," the soured said.

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According to the publishing house, the book contains a lot of personal stories, as well as Gorbachev’s views on the present-day leaders, events of the Perestroika era, Crimea issue and western countries.

Mikhail Gorbachev, born in 1931, is a prominent Russian politician and a public figure, the first and only president of the Soviet Union (1990-1991). From 1992, he has been president of the International Foundation for Social, Economic and Political Studies (or the Gorbachev Foundation). In 1990, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The former Soviet statesman has been presented with more than 300 state and public awards, diplomas, honorary certificates and various insignias. Those include three Orders of Lenin (awarded in 1971, 1973 and 1981), the Order of the October Revolution (1978), the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (awarded in 1949 for "outstanding work during harvesting"), the Honor Badge (1966), the Order of Honor (2001), the Order of St. Andrew (2011) just to name a few. The ex-USSR leader has also received many foreign awards and prizes.

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