Global Viewpoint: What is your view of events in Yugoslavia?
Mikhail Gorbachev: As far as Yugoslavia is concerned, cooperation within the U.N. Security Council is still vital. But the very case of Yugoslavia reveals how necessary it is to avoid distortion.Frankly, the recognition of Croatia and Slovenia by some Western nations was premature and contributed to inflaming the situation to the extreme. To put all the blame on Serbia is a naive misconception. Objective analysis is the only way to assure that each party achieves its legitimate rights. If misconstruing of the disintegrative, conflict-producing factors continues, no valid conclusions for the future can be drawn from the Yugoslav case.
Viewpoint: How would you describe relations between yourself and Boris Yeltsin?
Gorbachev: It would be irresponsible on his and my part to prioritize matters of our interpersonal relationship. What is essential is to continue moving along the line of democratization and reform. Everything else should be subordinated to this aim. There was nothing new in the recent interview I gave with Komsomolskaya Pravda.
I have said it before: The situation (in Russia) is on the verge of catastrophe. Cooperatives and state-farms in Stavropol Province used to have 20 billion to 40 billion rubles in their coffers. Now they have run out of cash.
How is that explainable at a time when the villages are in a position to set the price they wish for their crops? It is because, in spite of the need for food, the food-processing industries are no longer buying meat and dairy products from the cooperatives and farms. Why? Simply because the citizen is unable to afford the new prices. The full liberalization of pricing has led to this result.
So what are the villages supposed to do? Reduce production to avoid sustained losses? Isn't that ridiculous? The problem should be tackled now. Otherwise, grave economic and political consequences lie ahead.
It is difficult to say what the (Yeltsin) government will be able to do to rectify the situation now. Seed-time has already passed and the peasants are disposing of their cattle. They have lost their confidence in the status quo. If no solution is sought, collapse will follow.
Viewpoint: Do you fear that Yeltsin's reform measures, your differences and the growing opposition may lead to tightening the grip of dictatorship?
Gorbachev: I do not infer such a conclusion now. I do not have enough reasons to think so. I believe and hope that Yeltsin will not reverse the democratic character of the transformations at this difficult phase. My opinion is that the executive should work actively. But, at the same time, no slide into dictatorship should be permissible.
Viewpoint: You are out of office, yet everybody speaks of your vigorous return to political action. Do you expect the Russian people to call you back?
Gorbachev: I have no such plans. What I actually plan is what I am doing now, namely investing my expertise, skills and relations in an effort to change the world for the better with other world politicians. That is what concerns me personally.
Viewpoint: Now that the Soviet Union is history, do you feel, as its last president, any regret when looking back?
Gorbachev: Undoubtedly. But my convictions have not changed. The Union required reform with due consideration to the formation of sovereign nations and states. In accordance with the logic of our epoch, the logic of state-building over the last few centuries, the Union needed cooperation and mutual coordination. In other words, it was necessary to build a new union of sovereign states.
Turning down the idea of such a Union, I always argued, would cost dearly. It would be conducive to widespread civil strife, internal conflict and even civil war. When there is one unified state, certain problems remain invisible. But when the centralized entity is split into multiple centers, into national homes, all these problems come to the surface.
What is my opinion now? To revive a union of sovereign states is unrealistic. Now, it is necessary to support the establishment of sovereign states and help them build new forms of cooperation. Everybody realizes that this cooperation is vital.
That is why I am happy with the Russian Federation, although the tempo with which it is being built is slow, arduous and falls short of what was envisioned. The success of the economic reforms, especially in Russia, are of great importance to the new system as a whole.
The core of the matter now is cooperation. The deep-rooted interests of the ex-subject members of the Soviet Union will tend in the long-term to preserve some form of unity.
1992 Asharq Al Awsat
Distributed by L.A. Times Syndicate