Mikhail Gorbachev denounces power of Vladimir Putin
Moscow Mikhail Gorbachev lashed out at Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party yesterday, comparing it to the worst of the Soviet Union’s Communist regime.
Mr Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader before the Communist superpower collapsed in 1991, also attacked Russia’s parliament and court system in some of his most outspoken criticisms of the country’s rulers. Mr Putin created United Russia as a support base for his “power vertical”, which centralised political authority in his hands as President. Now the Prime Minister, he leads the party – although he has refused to become a member – and controls Russia’s parliament because it holds two thirds of its seats. The majority is big enough to change Russia’s constitution and overturn a decision to sack Mr Putin should President Medvedev be rash enough to try. United Russia, known as the “party of power”, a description once used of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, also controls all regional legislatures.
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