1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt attempt. Since assuming power as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985, Gorbachev had embarked on an ambitious program of reform, embodied in the twin concepts of "perestroika" and "glasnost", meaning economic/political restructuring and openness, respectively. These moves prompted resistance and suspicion on the part of hardline members of the "nomenklatura". The reforms also unleashed some forces and movements that Gorbachev did not expect. Specifically, nationalist agitation on the part of the Soviet Union's non-Russian minorities grew, and there were fears that some or all of the union republics might secede. In 1991, the Soviet
Meeting Gorbachev Meeting Gorbachev Meeting Gorbachev is a 2018 biographical documentary film directed by Werner Herzog and André Singer about the life of Mikhail Gorbachev, the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union. The film features three interviews between Herzog and Gorbachev, conducted over the span of six months, and had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on September 1, 2018. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on September 1, 2018. It was then screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2018, where it received wider press coverage. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes,