4 ms·

Gorbachev definitely did not envision it, but he certainly wasn't going to start killing tens and hundreds of thousands of people over it. There's a reason his

• radicaldreamer 4y ago
  To be fair, Yeltsin and the Russian nationalists were fine with letting these countries go their own way and breaking up the Soviet Union as a way of getting an independent Russia as a consequence. Their problem was always the suppression of Russian nationalism in the Soviet Union.
• syzarian 4y ago
  He sought to prevent Lithuanian independence. His legacy is tarnished because Russia lost influence while he was leader of the Soviet Union. Putin’s approval rating increases when he intervened, invades, or annexes territory of Russia’s neighbors. Russians will tolerate a lot provided their national prestige is not tarnished. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_Events_(Lithuania) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_Events_(Lithuania)
  • vkou 4y ago
    > He sought to prevent Lithuanian independence. He also sought for the party to remain in power, but when push came to shove, didn't turn to the old playbook of violence and repression.
    • syzarian 4y ago
      Hence is disapproval amongst Russians. Russians don’t give the moniker “great” to humanitarians.