MOSCOW — Mikhail Gorbachev said Wednesday that Europe still misunderstands Russia nearly two decades after the Soviet collapse, and he dismissed as nonsense portrayals of his country as an aggressive force.
Gorbachev, who resigned as the Soviet Union’s last president when the Cold War superpower disintegrated in 1991, said Russia does not want military conflict but suggested it should be treated as an equal. “We must achieve an understanding of Russia by Europe. This is absent,” he told a news conference, according to excerpts on the website of his charitable foundation.
“Russia as an aggressor, Russia as an imperialist — this is all nonsense,” he was quoted as saying. “Russia is a self-sufficient state that has everything it needs to conduct its long-term policy. Russia does not want to fight anyone.”
