Gorbachev finds love again with millionairess divorcée

Mr Gorbachev, 71, met Ms Meyer Simon eight years ago while touring America with his late wife Raisa, who died of leukaemia in 1999. According to reports in the United States, he is even considering a permanent move to her home town of San Francisco.

The millionairess divorce, a close friend of influential people including the media tycoon Ted Turner and the film producer Steven Spielberg, runs "Global Green USA", the United States branch office of an ecological organisation founded by the former Soviet president.

She also became one of the major sponsors of the internet site www.mikhailgorbachev.org, the digital library of Mr Gorbachev, which started working in March of 2001 to coincide with his 70th birthday.

The San Francisco Examiner newspaper claims Mr Gorbachev has sold his house in Moscow and moved to a villa near California’s Silicon Valley just to be with Ms Meyer Simon. The newspaper goes on to speculate that "the rumour mill tattles that Mr Gorbachev played a role in Diane’s divorce from her multi-millionaire husband, Herb Simon".

However, Mr Gorbachev’s press secretary rejected information about such an affair, insisting the couple’s relationship was purely platonic and dismissing reports suggesting otherwise as "ridiculous".

"Diane and Mikhail are just friends," said the spokesman. "They have known each other for eight years, she was a friend of his wife, Raisa, too."

Mr Gorbachev’s late wife became a household name during his presidency in the 1980s. A glamorous and distinguished figure, she became known this side of the Atlantic as "the other Iron Lady".

However, with her beautiful fur coats and American Express gold cards, she cut a far more glamorous swathe than her husband’s British counterpart, Margaret Thatcher.

"We were incredibly close to each other," the former Soviet leader said of Raisa, when he was laying the wreath on his wife’s grave. He added: "Our life was beautiful for the love and mutual respect that we shared." The love was so strong that Mr Gorbachev participated in the San Remo festival in February 1999 in order to spend his fee on treatment for his wife.

In 1992, he devoted his attention to what he foresaw as the greatest challenge to the 21st century, the environment.

He invited Miss Meyer Simon, a long-time ecological activist, to join his non-profit global environmental movement, Green Cross international (GCI).

The organisation now has 26 affiliate countries with several more in early stages of development. The affiliate run by Ms Meyer Simon, Global Green USA, is the only American environmental organisation with headquarters in Los Angeles.

GCI also has offices in Washington, DC, and San Francisco.