West uses Gorbachev after his death – VG

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is strongly against Western honors following the death of Mikhail Gorbachev on Tuesday. He believes that there is a double standard.

Western leaders display double standards and pursue geopolitical goals when they glorify Gorbachev’s contribution to world politics, TASS news agency Summary of Lavrov’s remarks during an event in Moscow on Wednesday.

Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev was the last leader of the communist state in the Soviet Union. In recent days, Western leaders have praised him for building bridges between East and West and ending the Cold War.

Feedback in Russia After Gorbachev’s death he was considerably more lukewarm.

Now Lavrov goes out and attacks the West for using the name of the now-deceased Gorbachev.

– There is a clear desire to use the name of this person, even after his departure, for their geopolitical purposes, says the foreign minister about Western politicians, according to TASS.

Lavrov thinks they are ignoring Gorbachev’s views on Crimea and Ukraine. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, and on February 24, Vladimir Putin began the war against Ukraine.

– In an interview he gave not so long ago, maybe a year and a half ago, he was asked about this very thing. He replied that he is Russian and that his wife is Ukrainian. He said it made no difference to him. He said that Ukrainian lands, especially eastern Ukraine, had always been Russian – and that only in the framework of the Soviet Union did Ukraine become a state.

When the Soviet state collapsed, everyone rejoiced that they could now take power from Gorbachev. But Gorbachev stressed that no one thinks of Crimea, which is historically Russian according to all the laws of justice, according to what Lavrov quotes the now-deceased president.

– When Western leaders who praise Mikhail Sergeevich ignore these statements, it is a clear double standard, continues Foreign Minister Lavrov.

He points out that Gorbachev’s statements are consistent with Vladimir Putin’s analysis when the war began.

Lavrov also talks about the many comments from Western politicians about Gorbachev’s unique contribution to the rapprochement between East and West.

At the same time, they declared themselves victorious in the Cold War.

As Sergei Lavrov rages against former US Secretary of State James Baker:

“I considered him an honest negotiator and I can trust his word,” Baker said of Gorbachev. This is a wonderful statement. Because we also trusted Baker’s word. I mean the leadership of the Soviet Union at that time. Including that NATO should not expand eastward. Serge Lavrov says that they shamelessly deceived us.

Among the many Western leaders who have praised Gorbachev in recent days Current US President Joe Bidenwhich highlights the reforms that made the Soviet Union a more open country after “many years of isolation and poverty”.

The result was a safer world and greater freedom for millions of people, Biden stated, according to a message from the White House.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen He says that Gorbachev paved the way for a free Europe.

He played a critical role in ending the Cold War and raising the Iron Curtain, writes von der Leyen.

– We will not forget this legacy.

On the other hand, EU and NATO member Lithuania will not participate in the West’s glorification of Gorbachev. They noted that he sent Soviet troops against peaceful protesters in Vilnius in January 1991. They wanted freedom after 50 years of Soviet occupation.

The Lithuanians will not glorify Gorbachev. We will never forget the fact that his army killed civilians to prolong the regime’s occupation of our country. His soldiers shot unarmed protesters and crushed them under their tanks. This is how we want to remember him, as Foreign Minister Gabrieleus Landsbergis wrote Twitter. He is the grandson of Vitotas Landsbergis, one of the most prominent freedom fighters in Lithuania at the time.