Nobel Peace Prize winner Mikhail Gorbachev has warned his fellow Nobel laureate Barack Obama against a course aggravating tension in Russia-U.S. relations.
In an interview with Russkaya Sluzhba Novostei (Russian News Service) radio, the last president of the Soviet Union criticised the U.S. president’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly for its “Cold War” rhetoric, asking Obama “not to lose his head and common sense”.
“We have one main fever – this is America and its claims to leadership. This is not even political dialogue, but strong language,” he said in comments on Obama’s ranking Russian policy among international threats along with the Ebola outbreak and terrorists in Iraq.
“To affect, to provoke, and the main thing – to see that squabbling in Europe continues. Because the United States claims monopoly. Ukraine and other things – these are only grounds,” Gorbachev said.
The former president said it was premature to speak about a “Cold War” phase in Russian-American ties, but there was every indication that the process was developing.
“There is no Cold War, but there are signs of it. We don’t need a Cold War. Such things continue for decades, and this is difficult for our citizens,” Gorbachev said.
He said the Russian authorities were pursuing a correct policy. “We are a strong nation, we have things we can base ourselves upon and things to say,” he added. — ITAR-TASS
Gorbachev warns Obama against new ‘Cold War’ with Russia
