Moscow, Sunday
FORMER Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said today he would return to
politics if Russia needed him, but vowed: ''I will never elbow my way
back into politics.''
Mr Gorbachev was speaking to Sir David Frost in his Moscow flat in the
second part of an interview for the BBC TV Breakfast with Frost
programme.
Elsewhere, he spoke of his admiration for Margaret Thatcher, but said
that ''many sharp words were exchanged''.
Sir David had asked him whether he would return to politics ''if the
call came''.
Mr Gorbachev replied: ''Put like that I say, 'Yes, I will'. But I will
never elbow my way back into politics. I will never use the kind of
methods being used today, for example, by various members of the Federal
Government who are throwing mud at one another.
''All of them have their fingers in the pie. It is really unfortunate,
all these mutual accusations and mud-slinging.''
He continued: ''My press secretary has said it reminds him of watching
a game of ping-pong, but playing not with a ping-pong ball, but with
mud. They are slinging mud at each other. I like his metaphor.
''If they think they need me, I will answer 'yes'. If Russia needs me:
yes.''
Mr Gorbachev said his relationship with Mrs Thatcher was not too easy
at first. ''When we first talked at Chequers we really had quite a
discussion.
''I felt from the start that I could deal with her. I regarded her as
an outstanding woman, a major political force.
''I was far from sharing all her opinions, but her concerns and
ability to address very serious issues -- this was something I had to
respect.''
Mr Gorbachev added: ''Many sharp words were exchanged. I could never
agree with the way she felt about nuclear weapons. She was too attracted
to nuclear weapons. I said I could not accept her position. I believed
we could not sit quiet on the nuclear tinder box.''
Asked whether he thought they were alike in character, Mr Gorbachev
replied: ''It is up to you to try to answer that. She was an interesting
human being.''
He spoke of what he had done to help change the world: ''I was
involved in ending the cold war and the arms race.''
Mr Gorbachev said he tried to reform the Soviet Union in a cautious
and evolutionary way. ''I was against great leaps forward,'' he said.
''There was a very critical point when there was much criticism of me
throughout the country.
''But today more and more people want me to speak out and ask me what
I think. Even those who disagree with me want to know my opinions about
what we should do now.''
Earlier, he said: ''It is very important to understand that the
alternative for the future, for the 21st century, is not an alternative
between communism, socialism and capitalism. We will have to think in
terms of a new civilisation that will guarantee dynamic development.''
-- PA.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article