In recent months, various prominent public figures, including at least one close associate of President Vladimir Putin, have insisted that Russia officially proclaim Mikhail S. Gorbachev a criminal for abetting the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Yet when the organisers of Mr. Gorbachev’s 85th birthday extravaganza in March approached the landmark Hotel Ukraine about a banquet, its owners refused payment after they learned that it was the former leader being honoured.
“They said that without Gorbachev they would have ended up as small merchants in the market, criminals dealing in contraband,” said Alexei Venediktov, a close friend and the editor-in-chief of the radio station Echo of Moscow, the main news outlet for liberal Russians. In an interview, Mr. Gorbachev shrugged off the fact that 25 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, he remains among the most reviled men in Russia. “It is freedom of expression,” he said.
Yet the official line denigrating traditional democracy, combined with the very idea that he should face trial, obviously irks him, so he churns out articles, essays and books about the need to enhance freedom in Russia.
There is great admiration for him among Russians too, of course. Some adore him for introducing perestroika, or restructuring, combined with glasnost, or openness, which together helped to jettison the worst repressions of the communist system. Mr. Gorbachev led the way, albeit haltingly, toward free speech, free enterprise and open borders.
Bringing freedom“Some love him for bringing freedom, and others loathe him for bringing freedom,” said Dmitri Muratov, the editor of Novaya Gazeta , one of the few remaining independent newspapers and one in which Mr. Gorbachev holds a 10 per cent stake.
The society at large blames him for losing the Soviet empire and leaving them citizens of a second-class country.
In the interview, Mr. Gorbachev said: “I keep saying that Russia needs more democracy.”
“I think if democracy is firmly rooted, if it is based on elections, if people have the chance to elect leaders at regular intervals, I think that is what we need. That is the basis for stability in foreign and domestic policy,” he said.
In his twilight years, Mr. Gorbachev has become an isolated figure. As the man most responsible for ending the Cold War, Mr. Gorbachev feels betrayed that the West — and the United States, in particular — played the victor and treated Russia like a dismissed serf, bringing NATO forces and the European Union to its very borders. “There was a mood of triumphalism at the end of the Cold War that was shared by many Americans. That was the point of departure for the collapse of everything,” he said. — New York Times News Service
