Ex-Kremlin leader Gorbachev on the Ukraine war
“Putin doesn’t even pick up the phone”
Former Kremlin leader Mikhail Gorbachev (91) has lived in seclusion for years. Now he has commented on the war in Ukraine for the first time.
Mikhail Gorbachev (91) has been living in seclusion for years. The former top politician and last leader of the Soviet Union is seriously ill – and has to watch how Russia wages a war against Ukraine.
«I often speak to Mikhail. He condemned Russia’s war against Ukraine in the strongest possible terms from the start,” says Hungarian television producer Janos Zolcer, one of Gorbachev’s closest friends. zu “Glance”.
“He thinks it’s all a war between brothers. His father was Russian and his mother Ukrainian. Besides him there are thousands of other people with a similar family constellation. If it were up to him, the war would stop immediately,” says Zolcer.
Mourning at Gorbachev
Over the past few years, Gorbachev has repeatedly tried to reach the current President Vladimir Putin (69) by phone. “But he never called him back. He didn’t even pick up the phone. They met once a year, otherwise there was no contact.”
Gorbachev is sad that Russia has decided to go to war, says Zolcer. “He himself worked for seven years to end the Cold War and build a relationship. But with the current fighting, all of that is being destroyed.”
In the hospital for months
But in his homeland, Gorbachev is ostracized by many. Many Russians blame him for the collapse of the Soviet Union 30 years ago. «In Russian propaganda, Mikhail is repeatedly portrayed as the destroyer of the Soviet Union. Now it is up to Putin to rebuild it. When the Soviet Union was restored, nobody would mess with the great power anymore,” says Zolcer.
It is not always easy for Gorbachev to be portrayed as an enemy. In the meantime, however, he has come to terms with it and lives in seclusion. “He’s not doing well, he’s been in the hospital for months,” says the filmmaker about his friend. “He’s very desperate. He hasn’t left Moscow for ten years and his relationship with his family is not good.” Recently he has repeatedly emphasized that he can hardly wait to see his wife Raissa († 67), who died 20 years ago, again. (BLH/zis)