I really don't know the composition of the Russian (ex-Soviet, that is, inc. Ukraine, Armenia etc. -- note that the first guy in the press conference is an Armenian) emigree diaspora, but I am under the impression that it is mainly made up of people (largely Jewish) who emigrated during the Soviets and are right-wing, and a second wave during the Yeltsin years. (Emigration today is pretty small.) I imagine the second wave, who fled due to economic dislocation, would not think highly of Yeltsin at least and probably not of Gorby insofar as you think of him as enabling Yeltsin. (Actually Gorbachev and Yeltsin's hatred for each other is almost bestial.)
Blaming Gorbachev for breaking up the USSR is a bit ironic, albeit common, given that the USSR was destroyed as part of an attempt on the part of a segment of the CPSU elite in order to depose Gorbachev.
Interesting that Yeltsin had given IIRC precisely _zero_ press conferences since he left power. ;)
--- Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol at jhu.edu> wrote:
>
>
> It is possible that today's 'Westerners' who revile
> Gorbachev are former
> Russian residents who reviled Gorbachev a few years
> ago. I understand
> (Chriss correct me if it is wrong) that many
> Russians resent not just their
> own loss of income and social security but also the
> loss of international
> status by Russia, and blame the perestroika for
> that. These Russians are
> the core of out migration to the West, which is (or
> at least was) huge.
>
> Wojtek
>
>
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