Helmut Kohl died in Germany aged 87. The politician, who witnessed joining Germany, lived in his native city of Ludwigshafen am Rhein for the last years.
The modern history of Germany knows Helmut Kohl as a politician who managed to stay at the position of German Chancellor for 16 years (4 terms). When he headed the Federal Republic of Germany, the cold war was in full bloom and the relations between the Soviet Union and the Western World were tense, to put it mildly. However, Helmut Kohl succeeded in negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev about withdrawal of troops from Germany. It is hard to imagine the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and following unification of the Federal Republic of Germany and German Democratic Republic without their joint efforts.
Helmut Kohl is not remembered as a Union Chancellor only. Long before the above-mentioned events, in 1984, the Chairman of Christian-Democratic Union held a historical meeting with French President Francois Mitterrand, which became a symbol of the reconciliation of two nations fighting against each other in WWII.
Russian President Vladimir Putin conveyed his condolences in a telegramme sent to the top officials of Germany. He complemented the political talents of Helmut Kohl and his skills of making long-sighted decisions.
Deputy Leonid Slutsky also expressed his regrets about the death of the former Chancellor of Germany. He claimed that Helmut Kohl was a figure of the historical significance at life and will stay in the memory of Germans as a politician who joint Germany.
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