Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who was responsible for ending the Cold War without bloodshed in 1991, was an internal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
HEThe eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union, he He believed that the Putin regime prevented Russia from opening up to Western countries. However, he joined the criticism of Western countries on relations with Russia. Gorbachev died yesterday at the age of 91.
Second César Albuquerque, researcher LEA (Asian Studies Laboratory), USP (University of São Paulo) affiliated with the Department of History, Gorbachev had a vision that was very aligned with Putin and understood that “Russian action was not a hostile undertaking, but a response to the hostilities Russia has been subjected to since 1991.”
This is why Gorbachev participates in this talk, not because he advocated the resumption of hostility that marked the Cold War, but because he understood that Russia was the victim of a kind of hostility from the West that sought to reduce it to a secondary role. on the international stage. ”
how was the relationship Gorbachev and Putin? According to Albuquerque, Gorbachev had a positive image of Putin in 2000, when he first assumed the presidency of Russia.
“This image is shared to this day by Russians, who see Putin as one of those responsible for the country’s domestic economic and political stability after years of crisis, and as one of those responsible for bringing Russia back into the international arena,” he explains.
After protests by Russian youth against the legislative elections in 2012, Gorbachev broke up with Putin. “He begins to draw attention to the setbacks in the country’s democratic structure, the political setbacks within the regime. For Gorbachev, Putin will have regressed the openness that was achieved with the end of the Soviet Union,” says the researcher.
Internal criticism, external support. But from the outside, according to researcher César Albuquerque, there has never been a break between the two.
Although Gorbachev did not openly advocate military interventions or the resumption of rivalry with the West, he defended Russia’s actions in Georgia in 2008 and did not criticize the annexation of Crimea. [território ucraniano] It was made by the Russians in 2014 and defended Russia’s role in the Syrian War.”
Gorbachev said little about the Russian war in Ukraine, which has been going on since February, as he was already sick. Also, because it became critical in the local scenario that took its place in the Russian media.
He believed that the West was hostile to Russia. Gorbachev had a view that fit well with Putin’s official rhetoric: Russia has been subject to hostilities from the West since independence in 1991.
“During his reforms between 1985 and 1991, Gorbachev understood that he had eased tensions and created opportunities for rapprochement between Russia and the West, and from the 1990s onwards, opportunities were not taken advantage of, mainly because the West continued its hostilities. USP researcher César Albuquerque said: as a way of placing Turkey in a secondary role in the international scenario and capitalizing on the crisis it is experiencing,” he explains.
who was Gorbachev? Mikhail Gorbachev was responsible for Russia’s reopening to the world.
Born in March 1931 in Privolnoye, Russia, he was a member of a Russian-Ukrainian immigrant family. He joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1952, graduating from Law in 1955 and Economics in 1967. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.
According to César Albuquerque, a researcher at the USP, Gorbachev was “one of the great heroes of the processes that led to the end of the Soviet Union and the Cold War, and of the tensions that marked the second half of the 20th century.”
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“As leader of the Soviet Union, he supported a series of economic and political reforms that led to the disintegration of the former socialist superpower and drastically changed the world order.
However, he was not well liked by the Russians inside. “The image of Gorbachev is quite negative. They attribute to him the image of someone who puts Russia in a secondary role.”
Virgilio Arraes, professor of contemporary history at UNB (University of Brasília) and coordinator of a group on the history of international relations at ANPUH (National Historical Union), Gorbachev tried to keep Russia in good standing with the West diplomatically. “Recognizing the relentless decay of the communist regime. The absence of democracy in politics. The loss of competitiveness in the economy with the Third Industrial Revolution.”
Therefore, Arraes concludes, “The bond between Putin and Gorbachev would hypothetically be to preserve Russia’s greatness despite different paths.”
this Is the war in Ukraine Putin’s attempt to retake the Soviet Union? According to political scientist Vicente Ferraro, a researcher on Russian and Ukrainian politics and a member of the LEA, the war in Ukraine is mostly linked to internal factors such as support for the authoritarian regime in Russia and Putin’s own ideological perceptions. From Soviet space and Ukraine.
“The war in Ukraine reinforces the perception that Russia is surrounded by enemies. This gives strength to Putin’s speech to confront the West. It is a speech that helps legitimize his regime.”
So, Ferraro continues, Putin believes in the “idea of the Russian world,” that “Russia has an obligation not only to Russian citizens in Russia, but also to ethnic Russians outside Russia, particularly in the post-Russian space.” “Russia will have an obligation to intervene and even annex these regions, as in Ukraine,” he said.
source: Noticias
