Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union on December 25, 1991, days after the leaders of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine said the USSR no longer existed (AFP/VITALY ARMAND)
Fri, December 24, 2021,
The United States grew "arrogant and self-confident" after the collapse of the Soviet Union, leading to the expansion of the NATO military alliance, former leader Mikhail Gorbachev said on Friday.
In recent years President Vladimir Putin has grown increasingly insistent that NATO is encroaching close to Russia's borders, and Moscow last week demanded "legal guarantees" that the US-led alliance halt its eastward expansion.
Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union on December 25, 1991, days after the leaders of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine said the USSR no longer existed.
"How can one count on equal relations with the United States and the West in such a position," Gorbachev told state news agency RIA Novosti on the eve of the anniversary of his resignation as the leader of the USSR.
He said there was a "triumphant mood in the West, especially in the United States" after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
"They grew arrogant and self-confident. They declared victory in the Cold War," said the 90-year-old.
He insisted Moscow and Washington were "together" in pulling the world out of confrontation and the nuclear race.
"No, the 'winners' decided to build a new empire. Hence the idea of NATO expansion," Gorbachev added.
However, he welcomed forthcoming security talks between Moscow and Washington.
"I hope there will be a result," he said.
Last week Moscow presented the West with sweeping security demands, saying NATO must not admit new members and seeking to bar the US from establishing new bases in former Soviet countries.
Putin said Thursday that Washington had been willing to discuss the proposals and talks could happen at the start of next year in Geneva.
A senior US official said Washington was ready for talks "as soon as early January".
Putin, a former KGB agent and loyal servant of the Soviet Union, was dismayed when it fell apart, once calling the collapse "the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th century".
Many Russians remember the end of the Soviet era for the economic and political crisis that followed and credit Putin with returning the country to the international arena.
Valentina Shmeleva labelled the leaders immediately preceding Putin as "traitors", particularly Russia's first president Boris Yeltsin.
"Gorbachev destroyed the Soviet Union and the drunkard Yeltsin helped," said the 84-year-old.
Evgeny Dotsenko, 46, said it was a "pity" that the USSR fell apart.
"I was born and grew up in the Soviet Union and I liked living then. Everything was free: education, medicine, everything," Dotsenko, who works as a metro electrician, told AFP.
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Putin Loses His Cool When Confronted Over Ukraine, Claims It Belongs to Lenin Anyway
Allison Quinn
Thu, December 23, 2021
Reuters
Vladimir Putin’s normally predictable annual press conference briefly veered off the rails Thursday when the Russian president appeared to lose his cool after being questioned about Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine.
When a reporter for Sky News asked whether Moscow could give security guarantees and promise not to invade its neighbor, Putin exploded: “You are demanding guarantees from us? It’s you who should give us guarantees. Immediately. Right now. And not talk it over for decades.”
His comments came as Ukraine released satellite images it said showed more Russian forces building up at its border, and the Russian Defense Ministry announced massive “attack” drills in Crimea.
Moscow has repeatedly claimed the moves are in response to what it sees as the threat of an expanding NATO, while Western officials view the Kremlin’s saber-rattling as a form of coercive diplomacy through which it hopes to keep its grip on Ukraine.
Putin repeatedly portrayed Russia as the victim at his press conference, claiming Moscow had been dragged into the Ukraine conflict when it is really just a “mediator.”
“They want to make us a party to the conflict, and it’s not like that,” he said. (Apparently in his view it was not the Russian forces seizing Crimea in 2014, the years of Kremlin propaganda, Russian support for separatists, and the reported weapons supplies that made Russia a party to the conflict.)
He accused NATO of being the true aggressor, appearing to briefly seethe as he suggested the West has always sought to destroy Russia.
“They tricked us. Just cheated us. Five waves of NATO enlargement,” he said.
“And on top of that—no matter what we did, you always expressed ‘concerns.’ Get out of here with your ‘concerns.’ We will do what we consider necessary. We want to ensure our safety,” he said.
Later in the conference, Putin said there was an overall “positive response” from the U.S. to the Kremlin’s “red line” proposals on NATO.
“Our American partners say they’re ready to start discussions early next year in Geneva. Both sides have named representatives and I hope that things will continue along the same path,” he said.
“Our actions will depend on the situation in the sphere of security. We made clear that the further expansion of NATO in the East is not acceptable. We’re not the ones who came to the States with missiles. They’re the ones setting up missiles right on our doorstep,” he said.
“And what if we set up missiles on the border of the U.S. and Canada? Or Mexico?”
Visibly angry, he went on to vent frustration over the idea of a sovereign Ukraine, suggesting the country actually belongs to Vladimir Lenin.
“And who did California belong to?” he asked, apparently referring to California being part of Mexico prior to the Mexican-American War.
“And Texas? Did they forget that or something? Well okay, everyone has forgotten, and they don’t remember the way they now remember about Crimea. We also don’t remember who created Ukraine–Lenin Vladimir Ilyich, when he created the Soviet Union.”
Read more at The Daily Beast.
Allison Quinn
Thu, December 23, 2021
Reuters
Vladimir Putin’s normally predictable annual press conference briefly veered off the rails Thursday when the Russian president appeared to lose his cool after being questioned about Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine.
When a reporter for Sky News asked whether Moscow could give security guarantees and promise not to invade its neighbor, Putin exploded: “You are demanding guarantees from us? It’s you who should give us guarantees. Immediately. Right now. And not talk it over for decades.”
His comments came as Ukraine released satellite images it said showed more Russian forces building up at its border, and the Russian Defense Ministry announced massive “attack” drills in Crimea.
Moscow has repeatedly claimed the moves are in response to what it sees as the threat of an expanding NATO, while Western officials view the Kremlin’s saber-rattling as a form of coercive diplomacy through which it hopes to keep its grip on Ukraine.
Putin repeatedly portrayed Russia as the victim at his press conference, claiming Moscow had been dragged into the Ukraine conflict when it is really just a “mediator.”
“They want to make us a party to the conflict, and it’s not like that,” he said. (Apparently in his view it was not the Russian forces seizing Crimea in 2014, the years of Kremlin propaganda, Russian support for separatists, and the reported weapons supplies that made Russia a party to the conflict.)
He accused NATO of being the true aggressor, appearing to briefly seethe as he suggested the West has always sought to destroy Russia.
“They tricked us. Just cheated us. Five waves of NATO enlargement,” he said.
“And on top of that—no matter what we did, you always expressed ‘concerns.’ Get out of here with your ‘concerns.’ We will do what we consider necessary. We want to ensure our safety,” he said.
Later in the conference, Putin said there was an overall “positive response” from the U.S. to the Kremlin’s “red line” proposals on NATO.
“Our American partners say they’re ready to start discussions early next year in Geneva. Both sides have named representatives and I hope that things will continue along the same path,” he said.
“Our actions will depend on the situation in the sphere of security. We made clear that the further expansion of NATO in the East is not acceptable. We’re not the ones who came to the States with missiles. They’re the ones setting up missiles right on our doorstep,” he said.
“And what if we set up missiles on the border of the U.S. and Canada? Or Mexico?”
Visibly angry, he went on to vent frustration over the idea of a sovereign Ukraine, suggesting the country actually belongs to Vladimir Lenin.
“And who did California belong to?” he asked, apparently referring to California being part of Mexico prior to the Mexican-American War.
“And Texas? Did they forget that or something? Well okay, everyone has forgotten, and they don’t remember the way they now remember about Crimea. We also don’t remember who created Ukraine–Lenin Vladimir Ilyich, when he created the Soviet Union.”
Read more at The Daily Beast.
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