On the world stage, he exuded a comforting warmth. That was his personal style—the man who was telling the world that he wanted better for his people. It was this positioning that significantly reduced the fear and suspicion of those Cold War years. He embarked on summits with President Reagan of the United States to limit nuclear weapons and to end the Cold War. He ended the long Soviet-Afghanistan war, and he encouraged freer speech and democratised the Duma in his own country.