Mikhail Gorbachev
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was asked to comment on events in Catalonia, where was not recognized by the Spanish authorities for a referendum on independence. It is quoted by “Interfax”.
“I’m not going to talk about Spanish Catalonia. I will not, because we have a lot of their “Catalonia” that there is still much to understand,” — said Gorbachev, in the presentation of his book “Remain optimistic”.
It clarifies the RIA Novosti, the policy asked whether, in his view, to draw Parallels between what is happening in Catalonia and the events in the Soviet Union prior to its collapse. The last Soviet leader refused to leave the subject of the event.
A referendum on Catalan independence took place on 1 October, more than 90 percent of those who voted for secession of the region from Spain. The Central government tried to prevent the holding of the plebiscite, including power methods. Injured almost 900 people. Madrid does not recognize the outcome of the election and considers his results null and void.
In the USSR in recent years have become more frequent inter-ethnic conflicts, which the Soviet government preferred to suppress the power — clashes in Vilnius and Riga in January 1991, the riots in Dushanbe in February 1990, the fighting in Baku in January of the same year. The blame for the loss of life as a result of those events, the international community had pinned on Gorbachev personally.