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.