A shame there aren’t more Soviet/Russian leaders like him, alas that’s probably why he ultimately was pushed to resign.
I do not know enough about recent Russian History to understand if those that followed Gorbachev (including Putin v1) led to a slope back to the demented cold war tyranny that exists today.
or did they try and maintain the Russian democracy, but Putin just turned the country. I feel Putin didn’t fully start this way, but that could be he needed to build his allies and gain fuller control
Putin never had and never will have any interest in Russian democracy.
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I think Gorbachev was an idealist operating in a far more ruthless political system, so he was pushed out.
You could argue if he was more pragmatic maybe he could have been more successful at turning the Soviet Union into a democracy, but his ethics were in the right place from what I’ve read.
" The blasts hit Buynaksk on 4 September and in Moscow on 9 and 13 September. On 13 September, Russian Duma speaker Gennadiy Seleznyov made an announcement in the Duma about receiving a report that another bombing had just happened in the city of Volgodonsk. A bombing did indeed happen in Volgodonsk, but only three days later, on 16 September. Chechen militants were blamed for the bombings, but denied responsibility, along with Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov."
I recall discussing in 1999 / 2000 that Putin basically wanted to re-establish the Soviet Union. I think he DID fully start this way.
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