Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, was shocked and frightened by the conflict in Ukraine in recent months, although he still believed in the idea of ​​the Soviet Union, but was against the use of force to achieve goals, his interpreter, Pavlo Palazhchenko, said Reuters.

Pavlo Palazhchenko, who worked with Mikhail Gorbachev for 37 years and attended numerous US-Soviet summits with him, spoke to the late Soviet leader by phone a few weeks ago and said he and others were struck by how traumatized he was by events in Ukraine. .

“It’s not only about the (military special operation) that began on February 24, but the entire evolution of relations between Russia and Ukraine over the past few years, which was a really, really strong blow for him. It really crushed him emotionally and psychologically,” she said. Palazhchenko in an interview with Reuters.

“It was very obvious to us that he was shocked and disoriented by what was happening (after the introduction of Russian troops into Ukraine in February) for various reasons. He not only believed in the rapprochement of the Russian and Ukrainian people, but also believed that these two peoples are intertwined,” Palazhchenko added.

Gorbachev had connections with Ukraine

In the photos of the summits of the 1980s with US President Ronald Reagan, Palazhchenko was always seen with Gorbachev.

Palazhchenko, who is now 73 years old, has seen Gorbachev and talked to his daughter Iryna in recent months.

According to Palazhchenko, Gorbachev, who was 91 at the time of his death on Tuesday, had family ties to Ukraine.

He referred to the Moscow headquarters of the Gorbachev Foundation, where the late Soviet leader had an office dominated by a giant portrait of his late wife Raisa, whose father was from Ukraine.

Gorbachev’s plans for the USSR

During his time in office, Gorbachev tried to keep the 15 republics of the Soviet Union together, including Ukraine, but failed after the reforms he initiated led many of them to seek independence.

In the last days of the USSR, Soviet troops in some cases used force against the civilian population.

After Gorbachev’s death, Lithuanian and Latvian politicians recalled these events with horror, saying that they still accuse him of bloodshed.

Palazhchenko noted that Gorbachev, who he said believed in solving problems exclusively by political means, either did not know about some of these bloody episodes in advance or “reluctantly” authorized the use of force to prevent chaos.

Gorbachev, conflicting ideas about Ukraine

Gorbachev’s position on Ukraine was complex and contradictory in his mind, Palazhchenko said, because the politician still believed in the idea of ​​the Soviet Union.

“Of course, at its core, the mental map for him and for most people of his political generation is still some kind of imaginary country that includes most of the former Soviet Union,” Palazhchenko said.

But Gorbachev would not have gone to war to rebuild the country he now ruled from 1985 to 1991, Palazhchenko said.

“Of course I can’t imagine him saying, ‘That’s it, and I’ll do anything to force it.’ No”.

Gorbachev’s relations with Ukraine are sometimes difficult

Although Gorbachev felt it was his duty to show Putin respect and support, his former translator said he spoke publicly when he disagreed with him, such as over his treatment of the media.

But he decided not to comment on Ukraine, except for the February statement, which calls for a quick end to hostilities and a solution to humanitarian issues.

Gorbachev’s relations with Ukraine were sometimes difficult. Kyiv banned him in 2016 after he told Britain’s Sunday Times that he would have done the same as Putin did in 2014 by annexing Crimea.

“I always stand for the free will of the people, and the majority in Crimea wanted to reunite with Russia,” Gorbachev said then, referring to the results of the referendum, which Kyiv and the West called illegal.

Some Ukrainians also accuse him of initially covering up the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986.

The verdict of history

Acknowledging that some Russians had a bad opinion of Gorbachev because of the economic and geopolitical upheaval that followed the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Palazhchenko argued that Gorbachev’s legacy is still significant.

According to Palazhchenko, this not only helped end the Cold War and reduce the risk of nuclear war, but also voluntarily dismantled totalitarianism in the Soviet Union and gave Russia a chance for freedom and democracy.

“I think he remained optimistic about the future of Russia,” despite the “destruction” of his own legacy and what he saw as unfair criticism. He believed that the people of Russia are a very talented people and that when they are given a chance, maybe a second chance, this talent… will manifest itself,” Palazhchenko said.

Visibly irritated by people who criticized Gorbachev after his death on social media, Palazhchenko called them “haters” and said his former employer believed history would judge him fairly.

“He liked to say that history is a capricious lady. I think he believed and expected that the final verdict would be positive for him,” concluded a former employee of Gorbachev.

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