DHARAMSALA: Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama expressed his sorrow over the demise of Mikhail Gorbachev, the former president of the Soviet Union, expressing that he had enormous respect for him and his efforts to introduce greater openness and transformation and for his opposition to nuclear war.

In a letter to the Gorbachev Foundation to express his sorrow, the spiritual leader said: "I make heartfelt prayers for my friend and offer condolences to his daughter, Irina Virganskaya, and members of his family, his friends and supporters. "He worked tirelessly to promote greater openness and transformation, and I greatly admired his aversion to nuclear war. He made a concerted effort to lower the global stockpile of nuclear weapons.

"I had the tremendous honour of getting to know him over the years as we both participated in peace forums in various parts of the world. We've kept in touch frequently.

"Mikhail Gorbachev was a visionary leader and a model statesman. He remained dedicated to advancing world peace and harmony even after he had retired. His founding of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates has made it possible for Nobel Peace Laureates and their separate organisations to routinely meet and use their combined ideas to create a more compassionate, peaceful world. His Holiness said, "He had a meaningful life.

"By imitating the zeal and tenacity with which he championed freedom and worked to establish a demilitarised world, we should continue to keep his spirit alive."

Mikhail Gorbachev, who set out to revitalise the Soviet Union but ended up unleashing forces that led to the collapse of communism, the breakup of the state and the end of the Cold War, died Tuesday. The last Soviet leader was 91. Gorbachev died after a long illness, according to a statement from theCentral Clinical Hospital in Moscow.

Though in power less than seven years, Gorbachev unleashed a  breathtaking series of changes. But they quickly overtook him and resulted in the collapse of the authoritarian Soviet state, the freeing of Eastern European nationsfrom Russian domination and the end of decades of East-West nuclear confrontation.

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