He is a man who chose peace, cooperation, and democracy and sought a better life for the people in the Soviet Union. He was a leader who saw the dignity of individuals over the group, and I wish to quote him directly. He said, "In the name of Communism we abandoned basic human values. So when I came to power in Russia, I started to restore those values; values of openness and freedom." He did so by embracing democratic reform and gave freedoms to millions of individuals by introducing key political and economic reforms to the Soviet Union, with the first being glasnost—transparency and openness—by allowing ordinary citizens to openly criticise the State, ending official censorship, publishing banned literature, and by helping to kick start independent journalism; and perestroika—the liberalisation of the economy and trade—allowing for more open and foreign trade.