Which leader of the Soviet Union is credited with introducing glasnost and perestroika and ultimately contributing to the end of the Cold War?

• A. Mikhail Gorbachev
• B. Boris Yeltsin
• C. Nikita Khrushchev
• D. Leonid Brezhnev

Answer: (A)

Glasnost and perestroika were reforms that reshaped the Soviet Union in the 1980s by opening up political life and restructuring the economy to introduce more freedoms and market-like elements. The leader who championed these changes was Mikhail Gorbachev. Glasnost allowed more open discussion, greater freedom of the press, and less censorship, while perestroika aimed to modernize the economy by introducing limited market mechanisms and reducing some of the party’s control over decisions. Together, these policies reduced the oppressive controls of the previous era and encouraged dialogue with the West, helping reduce Cold War tensions and paving the way for reforms in Eastern Europe that culminated in the end of the Cold War.

Other Soviet leaders did not implement these reforms in the same way. Khrushchev did push de-Stalinization and some reforms earlier, but not glasnost and perestroika. Brezhnev’s era was characterized by political stability with limited reform, and Yeltsin rose to prominence after the Soviet Union’s dissolution, pushing reforms in Russia rather than initiating glasnost or perestroika.