Gorbachev: U.S. Has Disease Worse Than AIDS

AP / MUJTABA ALI AHMAD | July 13 2006

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev says Americans have a disease "worse than AIDS” – the insistence on imposing a U.S.-style democracy in Russia.

A decade and a half after a coup removed him from power and the U.S.S.R. collapsed, Gorbachev spoke with an ABC News correspondent about American’s criticism of Russian democracy as President Bush prepared to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-8 conference in St. Petersburg.

"We have made some mistakes. So what?” Gorbachev said. "Please don’t put even more obstacles in our way. Do you think you were smarter than we are?

"Americans have a severe disease – worse than AIDS. It’s called the winner’s complex. You want an American-style democracy here [Russia]. That will not work.”

The 75-year-old former leader did pay a compliment to President Bush: "He’s very determined. You can’t say he does not have character.”

But he said Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld "are just hawks protecting the interests of the military – shallow people.”

He also had harsh words for Putin: "I told him I did not understand why he had canceled state elections.

"Vladimir Putin is walking on a razor’s edge," Gorbachev said. "Putin has used and he will continue to use authoritarian measures. But Russia will form a democracy. I know Vladimir Putin. He is a moral person.”

As NewsMax reported earlier, the Russian government has officially closed down ABC News operations in Moscow.

Putin was reportedly angry over a "Nightline” interview with Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev last year. Basayev was killed in an explosion Monday in the Ingushetia region of Russia.

ABC was granted special temporary visas to cover the upcoming G-8 summit, and Claire Shipman of "Good Morning America” spoke with Gorbachev in St. Petersburg.

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