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Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev
[PHOTO: SpreeTom/CC BY SA 3.0]
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Moscow: The famous Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has said that
Russian politics has “increasingly turned into imitation" and it will have
to opt a new system of governance in order to avoid threat of unrest.
The last Soviet leader Gorbachev, whose perestroika (restructuring)
and glasnost (openness) reforms in the 1980s failed to avert the collapse of
the Soviet Union has severely criticized the alleged ballot fraud and political
corruption of the incumbent government.
The 82-year-old leader also condemned President Vladimir
Putin for marginalising opponents rather than engaging them and for using
bellicose rhetoric in foreign relations in order to convince Russians their
country is besieged by external enemies.
Stating that the authorities have "managed to beat
down" the latest wave of public protests he warned that they will return
unless Putin makes changes.
"The authorities have managed to beat down the wave of
protest for a while, but the problems have not disappeared. If everything
remains as before, they will escalate," G
orbachev was quoted by the RIA
news agency as saying in a lecture.
Over the past week,
the country law enforcement officials have searched offices of foreign
non-governmental organisations, Putin has ordered snap military exercises in
the Black Sea and he created a 'hero of labour' honour reminiscent of a Soviet
command economy.