Gorbachev critical of U.S. policy

      Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev is speaking out against U.S. policy in Europe and the former Soviet republic.
     Speaking at the World Newspaper Congress in Moscow, Gorbachev said cooperation, not confrontation, is the way forward, RIA Novosti reported.
     "Many current events in Europe and ex-Soviet republics cause tension, but our American friends are acting here improperly, to put it mildly," Gorbachev said.
     Gorbachev said U.S. fears of a revival of Russia's imperial ambitions are unfounded, and that Russia, Europe and the United States "should establish cooperation both in European affairs and in the post-Soviet space."
     "It is especially necessary because the world is changing, and we are facing common challenges to security, poverty, and the ecological threat that is becoming global," he said.

United Press International, 07.06.2006