Gorbachev Discharged from Hospital

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was on Friday discharged from a Moscow clinic where he had been admitted for medical tests.

"I am feeling better today than I was yesterday. That is why doctors agreed that it was possible to allow me to leave the clinic," Gorbachev, 83, told the Interfax news agency.

"I have been discharged from the hospital and I am now heading to my office," he said.

A spokeswoman for Gorbachev's foundation confirmed to AFP that the last leader of the USSR had arrived at their headquarters and that "everything was back to normal."

Gorbachev -- who has been suffering from ailing health -- had earlier said he was "alive and well" after undergoing unspecified tests at the clinic for high-ranking officials.

His spokesman told AFP that Gorbachev had been treated on "an outpatient basis."

The Nobel Peace laureate has in recent years appeared tired during public appearances and is believed to be diabetic.

Gorbachev became Soviet leader in 1985 and instituted the sweeping political and economic reforms that became known as "glasnost" (openness) and "perestroika" (rebuilding).

In 1991, his reforms gave the Moscow-controlled republics enough strength to declare independence, and for Russia together with Belarus and Ukraine to sign an agreement on the Soviet Union's dissolution.

He has since lamented the Soviet Union's collapse, explaining that his reforms were meant to save the crumbling country through modernization instead of breaking it apart.

Despite his broad global recognition, in recent years Gorbachev has played only a marginal role in Russian politics, though he has criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin and called for him to give up power.

He presides over the Gorbachev Foundation for research and charitable programs.