MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/. Ex-Soviet leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mikhail Gorbachev has said a new agreement should be signed that could have a similar role as the 1975 Helsinki Final Act.
"A new Helsinki agreement is needed. We should agree to not allow escalation like in the case of Ukraine," Gorbachev noted in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper published on Thursday.
"So not only norms but the rules of behavior are needed. And they should be strictly observed," he stressed.
The former Soviet leader reiterated that he had proposed steps that would allow Russia and the West to resume cooperation.
"I spoke several times about measures that could help rectify the situation and resume cooperation. For example, I suggested signing an anti-terrorist pact in the framework of the United Nations on banning the support by states for terrorist, extremist groups, any movements calling for toppling legal governments and prohibiting the supplies of weapons to illegal armed groups," he commented.
Gorbachev said he does not seek to become a mediator in the dialogue between Russian and Western leadership, but noted that "veterans of global politics are obliged to have a say."
The Helsinki Final Act, also known as the Helsinki Accords, was signed in 1975 by 35 states, including the US, Canada and most European states, in an effort to improve relations between the Communist bloc and the West, and secure their common acceptance of the post-World War II status quo in Europe.
The accords served as a groundwork for the OSCE, the world’s largest regional security organization established in 1975.