Gorbachev died early Monday of circulatory failure and inner organ failure at University Hospital in Muenster, said spokeswoman Jutta Reising.

Raisa Gorbachev had been at the hospital since July 25 to receive treatment for leukemia. She originally underwent chemotherapy and had shown some improvement, but had been in critical condition in recent days.

Mikhail Gorbachev, who served as Soviet leader from 1985-91, stayed in Muenster to be near his wife throughout her illness. Reising said she did not know whether Gorbachev was at his wife's side when she died.

Bright, slim, fashionable and outspoken, Raisa was the very antithesis of the typical Soviet leader's wife. With the sole exception of Vladimir Lenin's wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, she was the only Kremlin wife ever to carve out a public role for herself,something few Russians ever accepted.

A former philosophy instructor, she charmed Western audiences with her intellect, poise and designer clothes.

But many Russians disliked her, and Gorbachev conceded in his memoirs that even his mother had never liked his wife. But he never left any doubt that Raisa - his "Raya" - was the love of his life, his soulmate and partner in both family life and politics.

Meanwhile, Russian president Boris Yeltsin has ordered a charter plane to be sent to Germany to bring back to Russia the body of the former Soviet First Lady, Itar-Tass news agency said. A spokesman for the Gorbachev foundation said she was to be buried at a Moscow cemetery.

Itar-Tass quoted Yeltsin's chief administrator Pavel Borodin as saying a Tupolev-134 plane would fly to Muenster on Tuesday and bring Gorbachev's body to Moscow on the same day. Officials could not immediately confirm the report.