"They believed that they became the saviors of the Fatherland." Gorbachev about Putin, succession, crisis in relations with Ukraine and a nuclear threat

About Chechen wars and Yeltsin

Gorbachev called himself a decisive opponent of Chechen wars, harshly criticized Boris Yeltsin for his decisions and regretted that he could not stop his political activity:

“He earned serious measures to be taken against him. But I believed that democracy would cope with Yeltsin - and it was my miscalculation. <...>

I was a decisive opponent of the First Chechen War. I then offered my intermediary services to Johar Dudaev [the former head of Chechnya] and the President of Russia. Dudaev said that he was ready and that they did not consider Chechnya outside Russia. Nevertheless, Boris Nikolaevich did not even fulfill his promise within 48 hours not to take any power measures and sent troops there, ”Gorbachev said .”

In his opinion, Chechnya should remain in the Russian Federation, and the project of its independence is “absolutely hopeless and provocative”.

“But life itself led us to the fact that we need to provide a unique, special status of Chechnya,” Gorbachev said.

In 2003 (after the end of the political career of both), Gorbachev said that he would not give his hands to Yeltsin at the meeting:

“I will not serve. We have not met and have never even talked on the phone since December 1991. ”