Mikhail Gorbachev is dismayed to see his life's work 'destroyed' by Putin as Russia descends into military aggression, close friend reveals

Mikhail Gorbachev is dismayed that he is seeing his life's work 'destroyed' by Vladimir Putin as Russia descends into authoritarianism and military aggression, according to a close friend.

The last Soviet leader ended the Cold War with his 'glasnost' and 'perestroika' reforms which led to the collapse of the USSR.

But now Gorbachev, aged 91 and in poor health, is living to see his legacy completely dismantled, said senior Russian journalist Alexei Venediktov who is in touch with the veteran politician.

Gorbachev's changes led to a flourishing of openness, setting most ex-Soviet republics on the way to forms of democracy, and a huge easing of east-west tension.

Now with Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion of in Ukraine, NATO is rapidly restoring its on-the-ground presence in eastern Europe, and Russia is growing increasingly isolated from the West which has imposed heavy sanctions on Moscow.

'Gorbachev's reforms - political, not economic - were all destroyed,' said Venediktov, in an interview with Russian Forbes. 'Nilch, zero, ashes. When Gorbachev was leaving, there were 4,000 NATO Response Forces in Europe. Four thousand.

'Now NATO has announced 300,000 people by the end of next year.

'So today there are 40,000 - and will be 300,000' - signifying a huge rise in the 'level of threat' between east and west.

The NATO boost comes amid fears across eastern Europe of Putin's imperial ambitions including in the ex-Soviet countries like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and Warsaw Pact nations such as Poland.

While Gorbachev has not spoken candidly on the current situation, Venediktov said: 'I can tell you that he is upset. Of course, he understands that [...] this was his life's work.

'Freedoms were brought by Gorbachev. Everyone forgot who gave freedom to the Russian Orthodox Church? Who was it? Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev.

'The freedom of press, the first media law, who brought it? Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev. Private property? Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev.'

As he spoke, he gestured to show it was all destroyed.

'So what would [Gorbachev] be able to say now?' Venediktov said.

The former Soviet leader is suffering from long term kidney problems and is on dialysis. During the pandemic he was confined to a clinic.

Gorbachev's wife Raisa, the former Soviet first lady, died in 1999.

Venediktov was the longtime editor of independent Ekho Moscow radio until it was purged in March under a crackdown of media by Putin's government.

Speaking at the end of 2021 - months before Putin launched his invasion in February 2022 - Gorbachev bemoaned NATO expansionism, saying that the 'arrogant' United States 'built a new empire'.

In recent years President Vladimir Putin grew increasingly insistent that NATO is encroaching close to Russia's borders, and uses the possibility of Ukraine joining the military alliance as one of his many 'justifications' for invading.

Gorbachev said Washington grew 'arrogant and self-confident' after the collapse of the Soviet Union, leading to the expansion of the NATO military alliance.

'How can one count on equal relations with the United States and the West in such a position?' Gorbachev told state news agency RIA Novosti in December 2021, on the eve of the anniversary of his resignation as the leader of the USSR.

He noted the 'triumphant mood in the West, especially in the United States' after the Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1991. 'They grew arrogant and self-confident. They declared victory in the Cold War,' Gorbachev said.

He insisted that it was 'together' that Moscow and Washington pulled the world out of confrontation and the nuclear race. 'No, the 'winners' decided to build a new empire. Hence the idea of NATO expansion,' Gorbachev added.

However, he welcomed upcoming security talks between Moscow and Washington.

'I hope there will be a result,' he said. Two months later, Putin launched his invasion.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko says Russia, Ukraine and West MUST agree to stop war to avoid 'abyss of nuclear war'

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that Russia, Ukraine and the West must all agree to halt the conflict in Ukraine to avoid the 'abyss of nuclear war.'

'We must stop, reach an agreement, end this mess, operation and war in Ukraine,' Lukashenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin's top ally, told AFP in an exclusive interview in Minsk.

'Let's stop and then we will figure out how to go on living... There's no need to go further. Further lies the abyss of nuclear war. There's no need to go there.'

Lukashenko accused the West of seeking a conflict with Russia and of provoking the Ukraine war.

'You have fomented the war and are continuing it,' he said. 'We have seen the reasons for this war,' he added.

'If Russia had not got ahead of you, members of NATO, you would have organized and struck a blow against it,' he said, echoing Putin.

Belarus has served as a staging ground for Russia's intervention in Ukraine, but Lukashenko has so far avoided becoming a party to the conflict.

Analysts say that he is keenly aware of the fact that most Belarusians do not support sending troops into Ukraine.

The 67-year-old leader, who has ruled Belarus for nearly three decades, insisted that Kyiv authorities can end the war if they re-start talks with Moscow and accept its demands.

'Everything depends on Ukraine,' he said.

'Right now, the peculiarity of the moment is that this war can be ended on more acceptable terms for Ukraine.'

He urged Kyiv authorities to 'sit down at the negotiating table and agree that they will never threaten Russia.'

Talks between Russia and Ukraine largely ground to a halt in mid-April.

Lukashenko said that Ukraine must accept the loss of regions occupied by Russia in eastern and southern Ukraine.

'This is no longer being discussed,' he said. 'One could have discussed this in February or March.'

On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that peace talks with Ukraine 'make no sense' and announced that Moscow's military aims in the pro-Western country were no longer focused 'only' on the east.

Lukashenko has sought to promote himself as Putin's most faithful ally, welcoming Russian troops under the pretext of military exercises before Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive.

Despite officially being a non-belligerent, the Belarus strongman has demanded that his country be included in any talks and a deal to end the conflict.

Lukashenko insisted that the war could have been avoided if Western countries had given Putin 'the security guarantees' he wanted.

'You, members of NATO and Americans, needed war.'