Photo Gallery 'I Earn Everything Myself'
Of current Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Gorbachev said: "What troubles me is what the United Russia party, which is led by Putin, and the government are doing. They want to preserve the status quo. There are no steps forward. On the contrary, they are pulling us back into the past, while the country is urgently in need of modernization. Sometimes United Russia reminds me of the old Soviet Communist Party." He added: "Putin wants to stay in power, but not so that he can finally solve our most pressing problems."
Gorbachev has harsh words for the now-deceased former-Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who would ultimately succeed him in power. "When we wanted to bring him into the national party, many advised against it," Gorbachev said. "It took a long time for me to recognize my mistake. He was extremely infatuated with power, haughty and thirsting for glory, a domineering person. ... He should have been shunted out of the way and made an ambassador in a banana republic."
