Mikhail Gorbachev, the former president of the Soviet Union who played a critical role in bringing down the Iron Curtain and ending the Cold War, died on Tuesday at age 91.
Billy Graham met Gorbachev at the White House in 1987 and in 1991 and also visited him at the Kremlin to discuss moral issues and spiritual values in society, issues that Gorbachev had previously spoken about at the White House.
“At the time, my father was in Moscow to lead a School of Evangelism and to prepare to preach in the city,” Franklin Graham said, “and he thought it was important to express his appreciation for Mr. Gorbachev’s support of religious freedom in Russia.”
Billy Graham also arranged for Russian Bibles to be given to Gorbachev and other high-level officials. In 1992, more than 100,000 people came to hear Billy Graham share the Gospel at Moscow’s Olympic Stadium, including many watching outside the arena on a big-screen television.
Franklin Graham has been able to share the Good News of Jesus Christ in many former U.S.S.R. countries, including Ukraine (2007, 2015), Romania (2008), Estonia (2009), Lithuania (2011), Latvia (2010, 2012) and Georgia (2014).
This past spring, he recorded an Easter message in Lviv, Ukraine, featuring an 80-member Ukrainian choir.
