Mikhail Gorbachev is admired by some and hated by others in Russia because of his role in history. That contradiction has also been reflected in the reactions to the death of the last leader of the Soviet Union and father of perestroika. Deputy Leonid Slutski, leader of the Liberal-Democratic Party, noted that “for all those born in the USSR he remains a complex and controversial historical figure.”
In this line, even this Wednesday there were doubts if Russia will organize a state funeral for him. The Interfax agency said that these honors will not be granted, although the Kremlin spokesman, Dimitri Peskov, has said that the decision will be made throughout the day.
Slutsky, chairman of the Duma Foreign Affairs Committee, praised Gorbachev, saying “he was the most brilliant politician of his time.” But he also pointed out that he regrets the disintegration processes that followed within the USSR, which began with perstroika and would end up forming 15 different countries. “That played into the hands of those who wanted to erase the USSR from the political map of the world,” he noted.
Gorbachev, who had suffered from serious kidney disease for a long time, as confirmed a few months ago by the spokesman for the Gorbachev Foundation, Vladimir Poliakov, died on August 30 at the Moscow Central Clinical Hospital, at the age of 91.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was among the first to react on Tuesday to the death of the last Soviet leader through his spokesman, Dimitri Peskov, expressing his “deep sorrow.”
The next day, Putin praised the political figure of Gorbachev in a message. “He was a politician and statesman who had a great influence on the course of world history. He led our country through a period of complex and dramatic, large-scale changes in foreign, economic and social policy. He deeply understood that reforms were necessary , tried to offer his solutions to the problems that were brewing,” Putin said.
However, the Kremlin believes that Gorbachev was wrong about the West. The “romanticism” that Gorbachev showed about a rapprochement with the West was not justified, the spokesman said on Wednesday.
Peskov said that Gorbachev’s hopes for cordial relations between the Soviet Union and the West “did not pan out.” And he added that “the bloodlust of our opponents has been shown,” a possible unstated reference to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Much more critical have been some Russian politicians. Communist deputy Nikolai Koloméitsev described Gorbachev as a “traitor”, since according to him he “destroyed the country” with a “betrayal from above”, in statements to Ría Nóvosti.
Oleg Nílov, of Just Russia, disagrees with this statement, who assured that one can only speak well of Gorbachev “or remain silent.”
Alexei Kudrin, former Minister of Finance and today President of the Court of Accounts, wrote on Telegram that Gorbachev was “the author of a new thought and ‘perestroika’, designed to give the country and the world a new breath. A historical personality, of great scope”.
Gorbachev “was too kind for his historical role,” said Sergei Stankevich, a political analyst and political adviser to the Russian presidency from 1991 to 1993. “Apparently this played a positive and negative role in his fate,” he added. .
Alexei Yaroshenko, director of the Center for Monitoring Political Processes, believes that the world hegemony that the United States established after the end of the USSR “is directly related to Gorbachev’s mistakes in the leadership of the Soviet Union.” According to the expert, “he incorrectly assessed the degree and depth of the degradation of the system, of the administrative leadership and of the single party, and took wrong measures (…) such as trying to democratize the political system according to the Western model and, Of course, this led to failure.”
A great politician, but with a paradoxical destiny, as the political scientist Sergei Markov has said. “Gorbachev eliminated the threat of the nuclear Apocalypse of humanity, for which he is worshiped throughout the world until now. But at the same time, he is cursed and hated in his own country, because he did not show strength in time and did not stop the disintegration of a great country,” he argued.
Grigory Yavlinski, founder of the liberal opposition Yabloko party, said the last Soviet leader freed hundreds of millions of people in and around Russia, as well as half of Europe. “For six years in power, he changed the world. Gorbachev did not leave Russia. He would have been received with delight in any country, and he stayed in his homeland, where it was extremely difficult for him because of mass misunderstanding and rejection,” assured
