ST. PETERSBURG, APRIL 18, 2002. /RIA Novosti correspondent Svetlana Chikirova/ -- According to Mikhail Gorbachev, President Vladimir Putin of Russia has a sober look at the situation. The former USSR president told about this to St. Petersburg journalists.
Commenting on the thesis from the presidential address to the Federal Assembly on the need to accelerate the Russian economic growth rate Gorbachev said that the economic development at a rate predicted by the government (from 3.5% to 4.6%) will lead to the economy losing its competitiveness. "A breakthrough is a must," Mikhail Gorbachev stated, the respective political and economic decisions should be made.
The USSR ex-president also stated that the address indicates absolutely correctly that Russia should obtain large return from small and medium-sized
business. However, Gorbachev noted, this does not mean "squeezing juice out of existing small and medium-sized business - it should double or triple in Russia." According to Gorbachev, to this end the country should improve conditions of small and medium-sized businesses' existence, specifically, to
simplify the procedure of setting up small and medium-sized businesses and create favourable financial opportunities for them. A breakthrough in the Russian economy is impossible without stimulating small and medium-sized business, Mikhail Gorbachev emphasised.