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July 24, 2008 11:06:52 PM CDT

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Gorbachev Goes Easy on Putin, for Now

Posted Dec 1, 07 8:13 PM CST in World 

(Newser) – Gorbachev remains pals with Putin, even as the Russian prez pares back reforms that Gorbachev holds dear, the Wall Street Journal reports. The former leader reserves his blame for the Kremlin, and spares Putin, calling him "a very normal person"—even after Moscow shut down Gorbachev's political party and muffled free media. But some critics say Gorbachev now fears for his legacy.

"I think he's secretly worried" about it, says a friend and journalist. "The values of perestroika? They're being savagely destroyed." But Gorbachev owes his current political life to Putin, who gave him a semi-official post after Yeltsin isolated him. One colleague says Gorbachev will openly oppose Putin only if anti-democratic reforms go too far. "He doesn't talk about that and doesn't want to think about it," he says.

Source Wall Street Journal

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Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) greets Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (2ndR). (MARTIN OESER/AFP/Getty Images)   (Getty Images)
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev talks during a press conference at the World Political Forum's conference "European Dreams."   (Associated Press)
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at a news conference in Moscow on Friday, July 27, 2007 (AP Photo/ Sergey Ponomarev )   (Associated Press)
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) talks to former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev (L) 21 December 2004 before a press conference. (JOCHEN LUEBKE/AFP/Getty Images)   (Getty Images)
Former President Boris Yeltsin, who engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union and pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy, died Monday, April 23, 2007. He was 76. (AP Photo/Boris...   (Associated Press)
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Russia  • Vladimir Putin  • Ronald Reagan  • Cold War  • Soviet Union  • Communism  • Mikhail Gorbachev  • Margaret Thatcher  • Russian democracy  • Stalin  • Boris Yeltsin


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