Kremlin says he was wrong about 'bloodthirsty' West

Moscow, August 31

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The Kremlin on Wednesday hailed late Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as an extraordinary global statesman who helped end the Cold War, but said he had been badly wrong about the prospect of rapprochement with the “bloodthirsty” West.

The comments underlined President Vladimir Putin’s long-held feelings about the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, which Gorbachev unwittingly presided over, and which Putin has lamented as the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century which he would reverse if given a chance.

Putin, who on February 24 launched what he called Russia’s “special military operation” against Ukraine, one of the 15 former Soviet republics, said beforehand that the demise of the Soviet Union was the “disintegration of historical Russia” and what it had built up over 1,000 years.

While Gorbachev, who died aged 91 in Moscow on Tuesday, is revered by many in the West for helping end the Cold War, many Russians regard him as a naive politician who accidentally collapsed a great country, triggering years of economic hardship, humiliation and a loss of geopolitical clout.Others inside Russia, predominantly those who have long been critical of what they say has been Putin’s brutal clamp-down on dissent and free speech, view Gorbachev as a democrat and as someone who tried to do the right thing. — Reuters

Solidified ties with India

New Delhi: Gorbachev played a pivotal role in laying a strong foundation for deeper bilateral ties between Moscow and Delhi. He visited India in 1986 as well as in 1988. In 1986 he held extensive talks with then PM Rajiv Gandhi, vowing to expand bilateral cooperation and reaffirming their commitment to nuclear disarmament. He came again in 1988, when he and Gandhi reviewed the implementation of the “Delhi Declaration” and vowed to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in the areas of defence, space and infrastructure, among others.