Even despite his criminal coverup of Chernobyl.

"You" (or I guess "we") wouldn't have "won" the Cold War without him - Reagan doesn't deserve all the credit.

Look for any other single instance in Russian history where the guy-in-charge voluntarily allowed the dismantling of his own dictatorship.

It's not enough to just say: he had no choice, or: he just accepted the inevitable. Would others have been so enlightened?

No wonder the Russians despise him - they seem to only respect rough dirtbags like Yeltsin or little Stalin-wannabees like Putin. A higher character like Gorbachev seems to elude them, and he is reduced to selling pizza on TV.