Former president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev is expected to arrive today via Punta Cana International Airport to give a series of conferences on the Russian transformation process, El Siglo newspaper reports. The National Palace announced President Hipolito Mejia would decorate him and hold a reception in his honor. Born in 1931, Gorbachev was elected Secretary General of the Community Part of the Soviet Union in 1985 and in 1986 initiated a period of political openness known as glasnost and the transformation (perestroika) intended to modernize the USSR. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 and was president of the Soviet Union until its dismantlement in 1991.
