Gorbachev should be deprived of Nobel Prize for backing annexation of Crimea - dissident Bukovsky to Belsat TV

Not long ago Russian-born writer and dissident Vladimir Bukovsky stopped hunger striking because the British Crown Prosecution Service finally reviewed its counterclaim for defamation. Bukovsky is accused of possessing and distributing child pornography. However, his defense lawyer claims that it is the Russian secret services that were involved in infecting Bukovsky’s computer. The Kremlin cannot be at peace with hissuncompromising stance that has never changed for 60 years.

In an exclusive interview with Belsat TV the former Soviet dissident commented on Nadiya Savchenko’s story, told about Gorbachev’s lies and reasoned about the disintegration of Russia.

Once you were exchanged [for Chilean Communist Luis Corvalan – Belsat); Nadiya Savchenko was swapped for two Russian GRU officers. How do you feel about this?

The idea of kidnapping, taking her prisoner and the absurdist trial was absolutely stupid. I wondered what they wanted from her. She is a soldier, she gave an oath, why should she be tried? She did shoot, but one shoots at any war!

What do you think about Gorbachev’s support of the annexation of Crimea by Russia?

He should be deprived of his Nobel Peace Prize (won in 1990 – Belsat). How can a Nobel laureate approve of aggression? There has always been an illusion about Gorbachev. He is considered as a liberator who wanted to introduce democracy and market economy. It is nonsense. His task was to save the Soviet system. And he did everything he could. He carried out some reforms, because they were facing an economic crisis. And that was the end, because the country began to disintegrate. In order to stop collapsing, he took very dirty and harsh measures, e.g. crackdown on protests in Tbilisi, where 30 people were killed at his order, or the same situation that touched the Armenian minority in Baku, where the KGB made provocations, or the attack on the TV station in Lithuania.

You have repeatedly said that ‘imperial’ Russia will have to face disintegration. What will be crucial for it?

There is no real local management in Russia. Each decision is taken in one room in the Kremlin. They failed to create any bodies of control at the local level. Let’s see how everything is organized here, in the UK, or in the United States. If a bomb falls on Washington, the country will not be paralysed, because most problems are solved at other places. Therefore, whatever be the crisis, the country survives because there are ties between people and authorities, which Russia does not have.

The rumour has it that Russian military presence in Crimea and the Middle East stems from Putin’s intention to stop aggressive expansion of NATO to the east. Do you think that such a threat exists?

I remember decreasing international tension when the West was deciding upon accepting the Baltic states into NATO. Some did not want to accept them in order not to provoke Russia. But it was Vaclav Havel who made them change their mind. And then the West agreed. There was no aggressive movement to the east, it existed only in Kremlin propaganda. And ‘counteracting NATO in Ukraine’ is utter rubbish. NATO was never about to make Ukraine its member country. At the moment they are not going to accept Ukraine or Georgia either.

Viktoryia Kolchyna, belsat.eu