Soviet leader Gorbachev supports Putin, political solution to Chechnya

BENSON LEE AND JEN HORSEY
TORONTO (CP) - Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev offered cautious support for Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, while also acknowledging that mistakes have been made in the country's uneasy transition from communism to democracy following the end of the Cold War.
 
"I support Putin, while I, of course, see both his achievements and mistakes," Gorbachev said at a news conference through a translator before delivering a speech at the Red Cross Power of Humanity Dinner.
"I very much would like to see him succeed, but in order to succeed, he needs to renew his policies."
"We have had some backtracking as regards democracy. There have been some blunders, some mistakes in social policies. Now is the decisive moment when really it is being decided where we are moving, in which direction we will be moving during President Putin's second term."
Under Putin's reign, Russia has endured a punishing stream of terrorist attacks by Chechen militants, including the massacre of scores of schoolchildren in Beslan last year, and the hostage-taking in a Moscow theatre in 2002. Bombs have also rocked apartment buildings, metro stations and other public places in the capital.
In response, Putin has gradually increased the government's powers, including greater control over the media - a stance that has sparked criticism in the West and appears at odds with Gorbachev's legacy of ending the Cold War through his policies of glasnost ("openness") and perestroika ("restructuring").
Putin and Gorbachev also differ in their opinions on handling the Chechen conflict, as the president seeks a military solution, while the former leader hopes for a diplomatic one.
"I support the effort aimed at a political settlement in Chechnya," Gorbachev said. "There were certain things that were done that I cannot support, but generally, I do support the overall line, and this is the line for a political settlement."
"But of course you have to remember that in dealing with Chechnya, we are not only dealing with the Chechens, there is also the involvement of international terrorism. There is a lot of money from various countries in Chechnya supporting terrorism."
"It seems to me that things will not be simple, and that this entire issue cannot be solved very quickly. It will take time."
At an evening speech he spoke of the growing gulf between rich and poor, saying poverty is the breeding ground for extremism and terrorism.
"The assets of several hundred billionaires are greater than half of mankind," he said, adding such global iniquities are potentially "explosive and intolerable."
He also called for more ethical behaviour saying "politics without a moral principle is no longer acceptable."
Gorbachev pointed to the UN as the best option for governance on a global scale - although he admitted it, too, is not without its flaws and said he supported Secretary General Kofi Annan’s recent initiative to change the world body.
Gorbachev, 74, was leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His attempts at reform and his role in ending the Cold War in the late 1980s earned him praise from the West, but drew the wrath of many of his compatriots who blamed him for the chaos that ensued.
His policies inadvertently caused the dismantling of the Soviet Union, as greater freedom of speech allowed nationalist feelings to swell in former republics that had been ruled by the iron grip of communism. A wave of peaceful revolutions ensued, effectively ending Soviet domination in Eastern Europe and signalling the end of Gorbachev's reforms.
"Perestroika made it possible to start the transition from a totalitarian state to democracy," Gorbachev said Monday. "It brought freedom to Russia, and that includes political freedom, freedom of religion, freedom to choose ... and that is the most important thing."
However, Gorbachev also acknowledged that the decade following the breakup of the Soviet Union was "very difficult for Russia."
"Some people are still blaming perestroika for those hardships, but many of them are beginning to understand that perestroika is not to blame because perestroika was indeed broken off," he said.
"It is not a smooth process. The processes of perestroika suffered a very severe blow when the Soviet Union broke up."
For his part in ending the Cold War, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. He resigned as Soviet leader the following year.
He is currently president of the Gorbachev Foundation, a think-tank devoted to analysing social, economic and political trends, and is also president of Green Cross International, an environmentalist organization.

The Canadian Press. April 11, 2005