Russian deputies: “Brilliant politician” and “traitor”
Several Russian deputies expressed their condolences on the death of the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, whom they described as a brilliant politician and contradictory personality. “Gorbachev was undoubtedly the most brilliant politician of his time. But for all those born in the Soviet Union he remains a complex and controversial historical figure,” said the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Leonid Slutski, in the Telegram account of the. Slutsky lamented Gorbachev’s death, but stressed that he also regrets that the processes of disintegration of the Soviet empire began precisely with perestroika, promoted by the last leader of the USSR. “That played into the hands of those who wanted to erase the USSR from the political map of the world,” he said. For the communist deputy Nikolai Kolomeitsev, Gorbachev was a “traitor”. “He is a traitor and not the secretary general. He destroyed the country, it was a betrayal from above,” said the deputy.
Parliamentarian Oleg Nilov, of Just Russia, said in turn that one can only speak well of Gorbachev, “or one should not speak at all.” According to Gorbachev’s chief of protocol, Vladimir Shevchenko, the former Soviet leader’s time in office was a time of “hope.” “It was a time of our entry into the world without missiles, where unique agreements were signed. But there was only one miscalculation: we did not know our country well,” he opined. According to Shevchenko, who worked with Gorbachev between 1985 and 1991, the fall of the USSR was a tragedy for his boss.