Mikhail Gorbachev: «Without freedom this country has no future»

By Arkady Ostrovsky
Financial Times; Feb 12, 2004
 

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union who set his country free after 70 years of communist rule, paid a cautious tribute to Vladimir Putin's achievements but voiced concern about diminishing freedom of speech and democracy.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Gorbachev praised the Russian president's efforts to stabilisethe country but said he needed to do more for democracy in Russia.

Speaking five weeks before the presidential poll, Mr Gorbachev said: "Putin inherited the country in a state of chaos, on the verge of disintegration, with no foreign policy, with no social policy.

"Over the past four years he has managed to stabilise the situation. He brought social order and pushed through the tax reform.

"But most importantly the lot of the people who had suffered from the reforms of the 1990s - and this was two-thirds of the country - improved under Putin although high oil prices helped of course. But this is why people trust Putin despite his mistakes."

But the patriarch of Russia's democratisation expressed concern over freedom of speech, the independence of media and the state of glasnost (openness and transparency) - the cornerstone of Mr Gorbachev's reforms in the late 1980s.

"There is less freedom of media in today's Russia outspoken critic of the Kremlin-led attack on NTV television channel in 2000.

He was "surprised and outraged" by the heavy-handed arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of oil group Yukos now in jail, and alarmed by the results of the parliamentary elections in which the pro-Kremlin United Russia party won a majority while no liberal democratic party got in.

"I think the president [Putin] has a lot to think about, including the results of the parliamentary elections. The United Russia party acted shamelessly, like a usurper, exploiting the benevolence of the president. You can have a pocket Duma, a convenient Duma, but this could have grave consequences [for democracy]."

The most important question is what will Mr Putin do once he has won the March 14 elections. "If he wants to receive the power for the sake of keeping this power rather than in order to pursue a new stage of democratic reforms, this could have very difficult consequences for Russia."

But Mr Gorbachev said concerns that Mr Putin would turn Russia towards totalitarian rule were unfounded. "Everything that he said in his interviews and in parliament does not suggest that he is trying to build a totalitarian regime."

Mr Gorbachev said much would depend on Mr Putin's team. When Mr Putin came to power in 2000, he inherited a mixed team that consisted of members of Boris Yelstin's entourage, liberal economists and former KGB and military officers. Over the past four years the balance of power had shifted towards siloviki - a coalition of police, prosecutors, military and security servicemen - a move that alarmed many Russian liberals.

"Putin has inherited a mixed government. He brought in people he could rely on - this is understandable," said the ex-president. "But now he needs to create his own government which will share his vision and implement his programme that should be aimed at modernising the economy, reducing dependency on oil and giving a boost to small and medium-sized business.

"The siloviki block will not be able to resolve economic or social problems. They should deal with enforcing the law, with corruption and security. But in the questions of overall strategy, of modernising the country, the [country] should bet on more creative forces."