A whole epoch is rightfully linked to your name

Vladimir Putin

Throughout the 1990s, despite his popularity in the West, Mr Gorbachev was despised by Russian liberals for having tried to save the Soviet Union, and by Russian conservatives for having presided over its collapse.

His relations with President Boris Yeltsin were strained, but Mr Yeltsin's successor told him on Friday that a "whole epoch is rightfully linked to your name".

With daughter Irina at a concert in his honour

Mr Putin thanked him for introducing an era of reform and for continuing now to promote "civil dialogue and a democratic society" through his Gorbachev Foundation.

"It was an epoch in which deep changes were introduced to our country, changes that fundamentally transformed the political map of the world," Mr Putin wrote in a goodwill message.

Praise came too from Gorbachev's former politburo ally Alexander Yakovlev, often considered the co-founder of Mr Gorbachev's perestroika.

Banners in Moscow

Mr Yakovlev said his old ally was "the first leader in Russian history to take action against a totalitarian regime and introduce human rights".

Gorbachev was the most beautiful flower that could have grown on the rotting compost of the (Communist) nomenklatura

Itogi magazine

He added: "I look forward to the day you receive the recognition in Russia that you are due."

Signs of recognition were evident in Moscow where banners were unfurled in several streets earlier in the week wishing "Mikhail Sergeyevich a happy birthday."

Recent opinion polls have indicated a gradual warming to the politician who scored a mere 0.5% in the 1996 presidential election.

TV career

The weekly Itogi described him as "the most beautiful flower that could have grown on the rotting compost of the (Communist) nomenklatura."

Celebration: Dancing with former champion gymnast Larisa Latynina

The first signs of an upturn in Mr Gorbachev's popularity came at the death of his wife, Raisa, last year.

Raisa had been deeply unpopular even during the early years of perestroika, before Mr Gorbachev's own rating began to plummet, but her death brought a re-evaluation.

Russians also responded to Mr Gorbachev's sincerely expressed emotion at her funeral.

In May he established a new party, the Russian Social Democratic Party.

He is currently working on a television series, "Secrets of Power", featuring interviews with other key world leaders, which he will present.