In one of the first comments on Russian state television about the death of Mikhail Gorbachev, TV presenter Olga Skabayeva, who was nicknamed the “iron doll” of President Vladimir Putin, had no words of praise for the former Soviet leader.
“Every newspaper in the world, without exception, mourns the death of Gorbachev. Gorbachev died at the age of 91 after a long illness,” says Skabayeva.
She then reviews the international press and Western media headlines about the former Soviet leader’s death.
“Forget it! The New York Times, The Daily Telegraph, Bild. All our enemies call him a reformer and a real man of the world, who helped unite Europe by destroying the Iron Curtain and ending the arms race, including nuclear ones,” says the TV presenter “Russia-1”.
She then turns to the Chinese media, citing an article published by Beijing’s Communist Party-controlled tabloid Global Times:
“They have their point of view there, emphasizing the naivety and immaturity of Gorbachev, whose devotion to the West plunged the country into an era of economic and political instability. Perhaps that is why the assessment of our heritage by the society of our country is fundamentally, radically different.”
Briefly about the reaction of Russian state television to the death of Gorbachev:
He came to the West and we didn’t like him, but he just died so we won’t get on him too much pic.twitter.com/5tFXFXe8ak
— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) August 31, 2022
“But it would probably be indecent to talk about it on the day of his death,” concludes Olga Skabayeva.
Vladimir Putin’s comments about the “iron puppet” came after he declared more than 10 years ago that the Soviet Union was “Great Russia” and that its collapse was “the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the last century”.
What did Vladimir Putin say about the death of Gorbachev
On Wednesday, the Kremlin leader offered his condolences after the death of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, saying he had a “huge influence on the course of world history.”
“Gorbachev understood very well that reforms were necessary and tried to offer his solutions,” Vladimir Putin said in his condolences.
But beyond listing some facts and general statements about Gorbachev’s role on the world stage, Putin offered no assessment of Gorbachev’s tenure as leader of the USSR from 1985 to 1991.
Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, was somewhat more direct.
“He sincerely wanted to believe that the Cold War would end and that there would be a period of eternal romance between the new Soviet Union and the world, the West,” he said at his daily news conference.
“This novel turned out to be a mistake. There was no romantic period, there was no 100-year honeymoon and the bloodthirstiness of our rivals was revealed. It’s good that we realized it in time,” added Peskov.
Mikhail Gorbachev was one of the few leaders who publicly told Putin to hand over power and leave the Kremlin.
What Mikhail Gorbachev said in the last interview he gave
Having become a symbol of democracy and the struggle for freedom in the West in the years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev gave a strange interview last December, 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet bloc.
The ex-leader of the USSR in an interview with journalists of one of the press agencies of the Russian state “RIA Novosti” said that the Americans “insolence, self-satisfaction went to their heads, they declared themselves the winners in the Cold War.” , in conditions that together saved the world from confrontation.”
“How can we hope for fair relations with the USA, with the West in this situation?” Gorbachev continued, condemning the “triumphalism” of the United States.
In a comment that directly recalled Kremlin propaganda and the statements of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mikhail Gorbachev accused the West of wanting to “build a new empire, thus the idea of NATO expansion was born.”
Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that the accession of some countries of the former Soviet bloc to NATO will cause a deep crisis between Russia and the West, since, according to Moscow, the North Atlantic Alliance is the main threat to Russia’s strategic security.
By the way, in the statement on the declaration of war, which he read on the morning of February 24, the President of the Russian Federation named preventing Ukraine from joining NATO as one of the goals of the “special military operation”.
Among the “security guarantees” requested by Russia last December was the withdrawal of NATO troops from all Eastern European countries.
On the same topic:
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- Who was Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader who publicly called on Putin to leave power / His career in 3 questions and answers
- VIDEO “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” – memorable quotes from great heads of state about the last Soviet leader
- Cherished abroad, controversial in Russia: Mikhail Gorbachev, the last surviving leader of the Cold War era
- Mikhail Gorbachev’s last interview: “The Americans went to their heads”
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Source: Hot News RO
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