After the death, at 91, of the only and last president of the USSR, Western leaders greet a “man of peace”, while the Kremlin is satisfied with a lapidary telegram in which he underlines that ‘He “sought to offer his own solutions to urgent problems”.
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The ambivalence continues Mikhail Gorbachev even in death. The disappearance, at the age of 91, of the last leader of the USSR, announced in a few lines, Tuesday August 30 in the evening, by the TASS agency, aroused a flood of vibrant tributes in the West, and reactions significantly colder in Russia. Vladimir Putin, said Dmitri Peskov, spokesperson for the Kremlin, expressed “his deep condolences” and “will send a telegram to the family and loved ones”. The Russian media controlled by the State relayed the news with the same sobriety.
Wednesday, at the end of the morning, Vladimir Putin ended up publishing a lapidary telegram: “Mikhail Gorbachev was a politician and a statesman who had a huge influence on the course of world history. Directed our country during complex and spectacular changes, large -scale challenges. (…) He had a profound understanding of the need for reforms, and he sought to offer his own solutions to urgent problems. “
The contrast is only more striking with the prompt reaction of Westerners who did not fail, in the context of the war in Ukraine launched by Russia on February 24, to greet Mikhail Gorbachev, Crowned Nobel Prize of peace in 1990, for his role in the end of the Cold War, “a man of peace”. “A rare leader,” said US President Joe Biden, a leader with enough imagination, in a statement to see that another future was possible and the courage to risk all his career to achieve it. The result was a Sure world and more freedom for millions of people “.
In a tweet, French president Emmanuel Macron put forward a “man of peace whose choices have opened a path of freedom to the Russians. His commitment to peace in Europe has changed our common history”. While emphasizing “the courage and integrity which [Mikhail Gorbachev] showed to end the Cold War”, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was even more direct: “At the time of the attack From Putin to Ukraine, his tireless commitment for the opening of Soviet society remains an example for all of us “.
” a single statesman “
In the same vein, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, paid tribute to “a tireless defender of peace”, “a unique statesman who changed the course of history” and made “More than anyone to cause peacefully the end of the Cold War”. “He paved the way for a free Europe,” added the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Twitter. On Wednesday morning, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also thanked Mikhail Gorbachev “for his decisive contribution to German unity” and his role for peace in Europe. This dream, he added, is today “in ruins, broken by the brutal attack of Russia against Ukraine”. At the same time, there was still no reaction, however, on the side of kyiv.
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