Vladimir Putin and Mikhail Gorbachev: why have they been in a love-hate relationship for years?

The current President of Russia Vladimir Putin and the last leader Soviet UnionMikhail Gorbachev had a love-hate relationship for many years, exacerbated by criticism of democratic involution and aggressive foreign policy Kremlin.

“It cannot be that all decisions are made in one person. No one has a monopoly on the truth,” Gorbachev said in an interview with the recently defunct daily Novaya Gazeta.

Gorbachev was one of the most vocal critics of the leadership Insertfrom which he was separated not only by more than twenty years, but also by a complete rejection of authoritarianism and support for pragmatic relations with the West, especially in the field of nuclear disarmament.

Insert At times he did not hesitate to respond to criticism, but, unlike other opposition leaders, he never dared to criticize a man with undeniable international authority.

ODIOUS COMPARISONS

While the last Soviet leader is an idolized figure in Westwhere he was known as “humpback”, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 and was a leader respected by the countries of the second and third world, Insert became enemy number one USA and European Union.

Gorbachevwhose grandparents were victims of Stalin’s purges, tried to reform USSR give it a human face. Putin, who admits he never threw away his party card, is trying to rehabilitate the figure of Stalin by force and revive the Soviet empire.

While the first went down in history for bringing down Iron curtain and put an end cold warthe second does not accept its result and wants to revise the internationally recognized borders since 1991.

Gorbachev was a shareholderNew Newspaper”, whose director received the Nobel Prize, which did not prevent the Russian authorities from subsequently removing that mast, while Insert he is known for his hostility to the press.

Also, Insert was brought to power by the main rival Gorbachevfirst democratic president Russia, Boris Yeltsinin exchange for guarantees for him and his family, which included oligarchs as his treasurer, Roman Abramovich.

SAVE THE USSR

Insert always accused Gorbachev that he failed to reform the planned economy in time, the key to saving the Soviet system.

“We should have fought more persistently, consistently and boldly for the territorial integrity of our state, and not buried our heads in the sand with our asses up in the air,” Putin said.

In comparison, he argues that the situation in Russia the end of the 90s of the last century “was much more dramatic than in the last years of the existence of the USSR.”

“The economy would collapse as a result of the 1998 crisis, the social sphere would be at zero, and Army ceased to exist. And we faced the aggression of international terrorism, separatism, and a civil war began. D Russia was on the brink of collapse,” he said.

To avoid this, Insert launched an anti-terrorist operation in Chechnya, established a vertical of power, shut down the most critical media outlets and limited the most basic freedoms.

According to historians, the freest period in the history of this country was the five-year plan from 1988, at the height of “perestroika” and “glasnost” (perestroika and transparency), until the bombings White House by order of Yeltsin in 1993.

MONOPOLY OF THE KREMLIN AUTHORITY

After several attempts to return to the political scene with a social democratic project, Gorbachev he was a residual figure in the opposition until government fraud in the 2011 legislative election sparked the largest anti-government protests in 20 years.

So, he did not hesitate to take the side of the opposition, led by the young Alexei Navalny, with very bad phrases in the Kremlin like “Russia United is a bad copy of the CPSU (Communist Party of the USSR).”

“The best step on the part of the authorities would be a resignation,” he argued and even demanded the cancellation of the elections for fraud.

In the months and years that followed, he did not hesitate to call for an end to “authoritarian tendencies” in Russian politics and accused Putin of thinking he was God when the restoration Russia “This was mainly due to high oil and gas prices in international markets.”

He also demanded constitutional reform to create a “true democracy” through a referendum that would end “autocracy” once and for all, and called for Insert abandon the search for a non-existent “fifth column” in Russian society.

Months later Insert come back to Kremlin after four years as prime minister, and did just the opposite.

First, he passed laws restricting freedom of assembly and classifying the new enemies of the people – opponents, journalists and activists – as foreign agents, and then, through a controversial referendum, promulgated a constitution allowing him to remain in power until 2036.

PUTIN, LORD OF WAR

The current Russian military campaign in Ukraine separated them again since two days after it started Gorbachev Foundation called for an urgent cessation of hostilities and the start of peace negotiations.

A descendant of Ukrainians, a brief statement from his institution emphasized that “there is and cannot be anything more valuable in the world than human life.”

Gorbachev ordered the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan (1989). Putin has used force since 1999 in Chechnya, Georgia, Syria and Ukraine.

EFE