MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said on Tuesday he supported tough measures taken by Russian President Vladimir Putin and wished he had adopted them.
Gorbachev, whose political reforms led to the collapse of the communist empire, said he should have squashed the challenge from Boris Yeltsin, his arch-rival and subsequently first Russian president, by sending him into diplomatic exile.
And he said separatist outbreaks that plagued his last years in power should have been crushed by taking their leaders to court.
"I have reviewed my values and made conclusions," Interfax news agency quoted the father of perestroika as saying during presentation of a new book "In the Politburo of the Soviet Communist Party".
"I now support Putin as far as resorting to tough measures to maintain stability is concerned," he said.
Putin, who succeeded Yeltsin in 2000, has moved to restore Kremlin control over Russia, lost in the first post-Soviet decade marked by unending political crises and economic hardships for the majority of the population.
In achieving his goals, Putin has subdued political opposition and put political forces, government and regional administrations under strong Kremlin control triggering Western fears that Russia could be backtracking on democracy.
In the past Gorbachev has reacted cautiously to Putin's policies.
Gorbachev had earlier said that the destruction of the Soviet Union in late 1991, spearheaded by Yeltsin, was an unnecessary shock to the nation rather than a help in achieving liberal goals.
"Yeltsin should have been sent away to a diplomatic post," he added. "Separatists should have been hit -- I mean confronted with criminal responsibility rather than attacked with machineguns."
Copyright © 2005 Reuters
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