Former president of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev will not be attending this year’s annual summit of Nobel Peace Prize winners in Paris on December 11-13 because of health reasons.
Gorbachev, who was slated to head the event this year, is being treated at Moscow’s Central Clinical Hospital after eye surgery. In a letter to the summit, Gorbachev apologized for his absence and said he was confident that “the decisions taken at the summit will contribute to constructive international dialogue.” The 77-year-old former leader received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for his contribution to ending the Cold War.