Navalny Hails Gorbachev For 'peaceful' Departure From Power

Moscow, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Aug, 2022 ) :Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Wednesday praised the last leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev -- who has died at the age of 91 -- for "peacefully" departing from power.

"He stepped down peacefully and voluntarily, respecting the will of his constituents. This alone is a great feat by the standards of the former USSR," Navalny said on Twitter.

He said that Gorbachev "remained one of the very few who did not use power and opportunities for personal gain and enrichment".

The Russian dissident also added that it was under Gorbachev's tenure that "the last political prisoners were released in the USSR".

Navalny -- president Vladimir Putin's most vocal domestic critic -- is serving nine years in jail on charges he says are politically motivated.

He rose to prominence as an anti-corruption blogger and, before his imprisonment, mobilised anti-government protests across Russia.

In 2020, Navalny barely survived a poisoning attack that he has blamed on the Russian authorities, but in which the Kremlin has denied any involvement.

Gorbachev was in power between 1985 and 1991 before he was superseded by the younger Boris Yeltsin, who became post-Soviet Russia's first president.

He made a disastrous attempt to return to politics and ran for president in 1996 but received just 0.5 percent of the vote.

Gorbachev since remained on the political periphery, devoting himself to educational and humanitarian projects.