MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Mr Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union who has died at the age of 91, made a 'huge impact' on world history.

"Mikhail Gorbachev was a politician and statesman who had a huge impact on the course of world history," Mr Putin said in a statement from the Kremlin, expressing his "deepest condolences" to Mr Gorbachev's friends and family.

"He led our country during a period of complex, dramatic changes, large-scale foreign policy, economic and social challenges," he added.

"He deeply understood that reforms were necessary, he strove to offer his own solutions to urgent problems," he said.

Mr Gorbachev was in power between 1985 and 1991, triggering the demise of the Soviet Union during his time in office.

Mr Putin, who famously called the Soviet collapse the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, has spent much of his more than 20-year rule trying to reverse parts of Mr Gorbachev's legacy.

Mr Gorbachev was also credited with bringing US-Soviet ties out of a deep-freeze following the Cold War era.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Mr Gorbachev “wanted to believe” that the Cold War would end and “there would be an eternal romantic period” between the Soviet Union and the West.

“This romanticism did not materialise... The bloodthirst of our opponents has shown itself,” Mr Peskov said in televised remarks.