The daughter of the late Mikhael Gorbachev has described his "warm memories" of Malta and said a letter of condolence from Robert Abela held "a special place" for her.

In a letter to the prime minister, Irina Virganskaya-Gorbacheva said she had been "deeply touched" by the correspondence following her father's death in August.

She said he had "often shared with me warm memories of Malta" and of the summit he held with US President George H Bush in December 1989.

The Malta summit was a crucial meeting that helped bring to an end the Cold War between the countries. 

Gorbachev was widely respected outside of Russia.

"It is good to know that the government and people of Malta remember and honour the historic moment which opened up prospects of a new era," Virganskaya-Gorbacheva said.

"During the current particularly difficult and tragic period of world history, it is our hope that the legacy of the Malta summit will live on for the cause of peace and cooperation".

The two world leaders famously declared an end to the Cold War at the Malta Summit, weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall, with Bush declaring support for Gorbachev's "perestroika" reforms.

On the 30th anniversary of the summit, he told Times of Malta about the intensity that surrounded the 48-hour meeting and the pressure to walk away with a positive outcome that at times seemed impossible.

Speaking two years before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Gorbachev warned that the new generation of leaders had failed to build a "mechanism for preventing and resolving conflicts, particularly in Europe". 

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