Posted on 04/10/2014 11:56:53 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
A group of MPs representing both majority and opposition parties have asked Russia’s Prosecutor General to probe the events leading to the breakup of the Soviet Union. They view possible action against former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.
In the letter, signed by two MPs from United Russia, two Communists and one representative of populist nationalist party LDPR, the parliamentarians claim that at the March 1991referendum the majority of Soviet citizens voted that their country should remain united, and therefore the actions of several top officials that led to USSR breakup were unlawful.
They also noted that in November 1991 the Prosecutor General’s Office of the USSR commenced a criminal case against President Mikhail Gorbachev, but closed it the next day under pressure from higher courts.
According to the authors of the letter (and the prosecutors in 1991), Gorbachev is personally to blame for the creation of the State Council of the USSR – the new body that was not described in the Soviet Constitution and yet took the responsibility to decide on the secession of the three Baltic republics. The MPs also noted that such crimes have no statute of limitation and Gorbachev himself did not enjoy any sort of immunity at current moment.
In comments with the popular mass circulation daily Izvestia, one of the sponsors of the initiative, Evgeny Fyodorov, claimed that the thorough investigation into the 1991 events would allow for a “correct historical and political picture” and veritable conclusions that, in the politicians’ view, would give an impetus for the “national liberation movements” in former Soviet republics.
MP Mikhail Degtyaryov said that it was extremely important to hold an investigation and restore a full picture of the 1991 events as these are the roots of all events on the post-Soviet space, including the current violent crisis in Ukraine.
“People in Kiev are dying and will keep on dying because of the people in the Kremlin who made a decision to break up the country a long time ago,” he told Izvestia.
Gorbachev has dismissed the accusations against him as attention seeking and “complete foolishness.”
“These calls only reflect the urge for self-promotion experienced by certain MPs. They like being named and talked about, but their appeal has not been worked through and is completely unfounded from the historical point of view,” the ex-Soviet President told Interfax.
Gorbachev also noted that he must still have enemies in Russia who try to blacken his name through various campaigns.
“I must be a hindrance for someone, the fact that over the last 20 days there were several reports about my death supports this allegation,” he said. “I do not react to such statements, I keep tending to my business and my health,” the veteran Russian politician added.
Gorbachev is the Jimmy Carter of Russia.
I side with Gorbachev here. He opposed Yeltsin, Shuskevich and Kravchuk’s irresponsible plot to break up the USSR, which contradicted the Soviet Constitution at the time.
They’re not proposing to put the Belevezha traitors on trial but the man who sought unsuccessfully to stop them. If the “big country” no longer exists today that is not Gorbachev’s fault.
And litigating history will benefit no one in Russia and the CIS countries.
Miki's fault.
I have said several times that Putin’s endgame is to reunite the former empire. I’d be stunned if he’s not the wizard behind the curtain in this action.
Gorby was a protege of Andropov, knew the real situation of the Soviet Economy, and realized it was on the brink of a total collapse.
Because Reagan had worked with others to lower the worldwide price of energy to levels the Soviets couldn’t compete with, the Soviets couldn’t afford to even pay for the grain they had ordered from the West, while railcars full of grain left the Central USSR, and arrived in the cities empty, due to corruption all the way up the line.
The Black Market in the USSR was bigger than the official economy, at that point.
They were on the verge of a mass starvation outbreak. Cutting the Republics loose bought them another few months.
I guess forgetting history isn’t something that just happens in America.
More propaganda supporting the invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent annexation of the entire country under the pretext that the dissolution of the USSR was ‘illegal’.
Next up: The Russians will invade Estonia in a repeat of the process they’re using to invade Ukraine.
I am sure Putin is involved in this.
Five, out of four hundred and fifty, not really a very strong movement in Russia.
They have their Elijah Cummings', too.
... in a repeat of the process they’re using...
I knew a student of world events who said, 25 years ago, this was the game plan all along.
Dissolve the Empire - wait for the West to weaken and then reform the Empire.
Losers who can’t take “no” for an answer.
And litigating history will benefit no one in Russia and the CIS countries.
*************
Nope. The depositions will be a female canine.
The USSR didn’t have to collapse. Their communist economy had to modernize and they could had pulled a Deng (Chinese economic reforms in the ‘70s)
Thanks Tailgunner Joe.
You beat me to it, I was going to post this story
“they could had pulled a Deng”
Couldn’t have been done.
The corruption was institutionalized to such an extent as to make that impossible. The breakup was as much about ending Soviet Communism forever, as it was about reviving the economy.
Though Gorby tried to prevent it, the people were done with the institutions of the State. It’s one of the reasons that State assets ended up in the hands of singular people.
You’re probably right. It’s just that the collapse of USSR was a great tragedy and took a generation to recover.
Where is Gorby nowadays? He was teaching at Harvard & may just want to take American citizenship just like Khrushchev’s son. As noted, Gorby is not popular in Russia & is in fact their Jimmah Carter.
If the Duma holds him criminally liable for the fall of the USSR, look for Gorby in a tricorn hat waving the Don’t Tread on Me flag on July 4th. His motto:
“If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!”
~their Jimmah Carter.~
Or Obama.
~Five, out of four hundred and fifty, not really a very strong movement in Russia.
They have their Elijah Cummings’, too.~
In another related news, 445 Russian congressmen are thankful to Gorby for his service and aren’t seeking to sue him.
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