MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. Relations between Russia and the US are going through difficult times, former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev said in a message to participants in the unveiling ceremony for the Gorbachev and Reagan sculpture held at the Burganov’s House state museum in Moscow.
According to Gorbachev, "in the second half of the 1980s, together with the leaders of the United States and other nations, we succeeded in stepping back from the brink and put an end to the Cold War." "We signed agreements through which over 80% of the nuclear stockpiles that had accumulated at the peak of the arms race have now been eliminated. The world was rid of the fear in which it had lived for decades," the former president of the Soviet Union pointed out.
Gorbachev also said that "it was a great benefit for all, not a victory of one side over the other."
"It is not our fault that, instead of celebrating a shared victory over the Cold War, the United States chose to announce its ‘victory in the Cold War.’ This was the underlying cause of the mistakes and failures that have undermined the foundations of new relations between our two countries," Gorbachev went on to say.
"These relations are going through difficult, even perilous, times now, and it is our duty to examine the causes of the current crisis and to look for ways to overcome it. I am confident it can be done and that our countries will be able to get back on the path of cooperation and, ultimately, partnership," the message adds.
Gorbachev pointed out that "the most important task today is to do everything we can to resolve the current dangerous impasse."
"There is one proven remedy for it - a dialogue based on mutual respect," he stressed.
In this connection, he mentioned "the role of civil society." "I am confident that every one of us can make a contribution to overcoming the current distrust. We need to get rid of the hostile confrontational rhetoric and establish a multi-level dialogue involving citizens, academics, artists and young people," Gorbachev stressed.
"We and the entire world do not need another cold war or ‘cold peace’. A true peace, peace for all will be our common victory," the former Soviet president concluded.