Gorbachev dubbed the election campaign "Potemkinsky village" and proposed "Changes"

Mikhail Gorbachev on the pages of MK and Novaya Gazeta in the article in order to move forward, you need to change the system "called on" discussion on the civil dialogue platform "and invited" everyone who is really interested in changes. " He noticed that "the election campaign looks like the next" Potemkin village ":" The authorities do not even hide the desire to protect themselves from honest competition and guarantee their self -preservation, "Gorbachev writes.

The ex-President of the USSR notes that the situation reminds him of the 1980s, when "perestroika became a response to the dead end," and called for "systemic transformation", "reforming the country" and "changes". At the same time, according to Gorbachev, the changes should not be gradual and evolutionary (the word “revolutionary” is not used demonstratively): “I am the opponent of“ great shocks. ”But there are changes that simply cannot be gradual. How gradually, step by a step to introduce the rule of law? Does this mean that the law will be applied only to separate categories of the population? Then what exactly will be? zone ”or in the position of people of the second, and how, say,“ evolutionarily ”introduce the principle of political competition and who will determine who it is applied to?”

"The Russian government lacks political will and willingness to seek a real way out. It is limited to cosmetic measures, and more often-imitation of reforms and voiced declarations. Apparently, powerful personal and corporate interests are tied to the preservation of the status quo. Even many of those who recognize the need for change, rely on reforms from above, waiting for them from the Kremlin. Do we still rely on the" Tsar-Reformer ", and we rely Not for our own strengths?

“The zero years, creating the illusion of stability and well -being, became a period of eating raw materials. Russia turned out to be a unique phenomenon - there was no nuclear raw material in the world,” Gorbachev emphasizes. "The reluctance to start reform or the desire to limit themselves to partial changes is often explained not by fear of losing power, but by the desire to avoid a new collapse of Russia. But it is the lack of changes that threatens to provoke instability and question the future of the country."

The article can be read here .