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Gorbachev died shocked and bewildered by Ukraine conflict
Pavel Palazhchenko, who worked with the late Soviet president for 37 years and was at his side at numerous US-Soviet summits, spoke to Gorbachev a few weeks ago by phone and said he and others had been struck by how traumatised he was by events in Ukraine.
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In this file photo taken on December 21, 2004 Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) talks to former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev (left) prior to a joint press conference of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Putin at Gottorf castle in Schleswig. Mikhail Gorbachev, who changed the course of history by triggering the demise of the Soviet Union and was one of the great figures of the 20th century, died in Moscow on August 30, 2022 aged 91. (AFPAFP/Alexander Nemenov)
M
ikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, was shocked and bewildered by the Ukraine conflict in the months before he died and psychologically crushed in recent years by Moscow's worsening ties with Kyiv, his interpreter said on Thursday.
Pavel Palazhchenko, who worked with the late Soviet president for 37 years and was at his side at numerous US-Soviet summits, spoke to Gorbachev a few weeks ago by phone and said he and others had been struck by how traumatised he was by events in Ukraine.
"It's not just the (special military) operation that started on Feb. 24, but the entire evolution of relations between Russia and Ukraine over the past years that was really, really a big blow to him. It really crushed him emotionally and psychologically," Palazhchenko told Reuters in an interview.
"It was very obvious to us in our conversations with him that he was shocked and bewildered by what was happening (after Russian troops entered Ukraine in February) for all kinds of reasons. He believed not just in the closeness of the Russian and Ukrainian people, he believed that those two nations were intermingled."
President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what he called a "special military operation" which he said was needed to ensure Russia's security against an expanding NATO military alliance and to protect Russian-speakers.
Kyiv says it posed no threat and is now defending itself against an unprovoked imperial-style war of aggression. The West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow to try to get Putin to pull his forces back, something he shows no sign of doing.
In photographs of 1980s summits with US President Ronald Reagan, the bald, moustachioed figure of Palazhchenko can be seen time and again at Gorbachev's side, leaning in to capture and relay every word.
