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Duma speaker warns against populism in politics that triggered USSR collapse

According to Vyacheslav Volodin, in 1991, Soviet leaders "sat out on holidays", while "the party bureaucracy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union dashed its ideals, if the party ideology can be called so, betrayed the country and its nationals"

MOSCOW, August 18./TASS/. The disintegration of the USSR was a tragedy that resulted from the betrayal of the elites, populism and the weakness of the country’s leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on Wednesday.

The existence of many parties and competition in the Russian political sphere will not let this scenario repeat, he said. "It is time to recognize that demagogy and populism are destructive. In 1991 and 1917 we saw the betrayal of the interests of the people and the state by the elites," Volodin wrote on his Telegram channel.

According to the speaker, in 1991, Soviet leaders "sat out on holidays", while "the party bureaucracy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union dashed its ideals, if the party ideology can be called so, betrayed the country and its nationals".

"The weakness of Gorbachev as a politician, his inability to be the real leader of the country played its role in the collapse of the USSR. He failed to unite the political forces at a difficult time for the country and to secure the state," Volodin said.

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Vyacheslav Volodin

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