Gorbachev endorsed Putin in an interview with the London Times. “I would vote for him and I support him. Based on what I know, and comparing him with other candidates, I would prefer Putin.” Gorby then added this:
“Putin has brought stabilization to Russia. Not everyone would have been able to cope with the kind of legacy that he inherited from Boris Yeltsin. I did not think he would succeed but he did succeed in preventing total collapse in the country. He began solving some important social and economic problems and re-established governance in Russia. That has opened the way to the possibility of launching real modernization.”
His “the possibility launching real modernization” is what intrigues me. It makes me wonder where Putin ranks in the pantheon of Russian modernizers.
“His “the possibility launching real modernization” is what intrigues me.”
Well, Gorbachev has stated tim and again that Putin has turned the country onto a Social Democratic course of development that benefits the population as a whole instead of a few oligarchs, as Russia could have and should have done before, prior to Yeltsin derailing the process.
Roy Medvedev says the same thing by the way. Solzhenitsyn is also pro-Putin, but that’s more a matter of VVP’s foreign policy. Actually all of the big surviving men of the 60s are pro-Putin — so is Yevtushenko.
We have compared the Putin with Pakitani President Musharraf at the following address:
http://pakspectator.blogspot.com/2007/11/putin-vs-musharraf.html
Would you please comment for the benefit of the Pakistani readers there?
regards.
I think it is imperative that Putin be made a saint. Only then will everyone understand how flawless he is. I could volunteer to head up a group of foreigners who have converted to the ROC to back such an initiative.
What Carl’s comment has to do with Gorbachev’s view of Putin is beyond my meager capacities.