22 February 2011

RUSSIA: Gorbachev Slams Putin's Democracy As "Sham".

GUARDIAN / M.ELDER /

  On his 80th birthday, former president Mikhail Gorbachev, who oversaw the dissolution of the Soviet Union, harshly criticized the current Vladimir Putin regime.
    "We have everything – a parliament, courts, a president, a prime minister and so on. But it's more of an imitation," he said.
    "United Russia reminds me of the worst copy of the Communist party," he said. "We have institutions but they don't work. We have laws but they must be enforced."
     Many in Russia despise Gorbachev as a traitor who delivered years of uncertainty.