MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. Soviet Union’s first and only president, Mikhail Gorbachev, said in an interview with TASS on Monday that the world is witnessing signs of a new cold war and called to stop building fences around Russia.

“And now, it should not be like that,” Gorbachev stressed. “Fences are being built around us, which push towards an anti-Russian way. Even Germany which after reunification presented itself very well and called for renovation, is now just on the brink of a split. And now nothing takes place without the presence and a push from America,” Gorbachev said.

“Now the signs of cold war have again emerged. This whole process may and needs to be stopped. It was stopped in the 1980s. And we opted for deescalation and reunification (of Germany - TASS). Back then it was harsher than today. And now we can also do this,” Gorbachev said.

Gorbachev said the United States is to blame for the new round of confrontation. According to him, the Americans decided that they had won the cold war. “I do not want to praise our authorities. They also make certain mistakes, but today the danger comes from the American stance. This ‘triumphator’s spirit’ is bothering them,” the politician said.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia underwent difficult times, and the United States took advantage of that fact, but now the situation is different, Gorbachev said.
“It is good that now the president is taking care about security, strengthening the defensive capacity and developing weapons and improving the army. We are armed today. So if needed, we can hit back,” he said. “But I think that this is not the task for today. The signs of a new cold war have emerged and all this process needs to be stopped,” he said.
“I think it is not late yet. There will be people who have the courage to stop this and start building a new world order that would answer the challenges that the world community is facing,” he said.
Public structures could make a significant contribution towards this process, Gorbachev said. “I think civilian structures, namely the global ones, have a great role here. These desperate warriors need to be stopped,” he stressed.
Gorbachev said he is also ready to join this process, after several proposals from a range of influential persons in America have come to Europe. “These are veterans, but very influential ones. They said that Gorbachev must be involved,” he said. “I am now thinking about this. I already have some considerations,” he added.
This process needs to be launched in Europe, he said. “Europe may have a very positive influence. It still needs to become an engine for building a new world. And now it is being pushed in a different direction,” the former Soviet leader said.
Gorbachev said he is confident that Russia and the United States can and should return to a dialogue that was launched after the end of the Cold War some 25 years ago.
“We need to return to the starting line when we began building a new world in Europe and everywhere,” Gorbachev said, recalling his meeting with US President George H. W. Bush at the Malta summit.
At the historic meeting in Malta on December 2-3, 1989, several weeks after the fall of the Berlin wall, the leaders of the two world superpowers, despite all the differences, were able to agree on the key issues and declare the end of the Cold War that had lasted for almost 40 years.
“How many speeches were made at that time. It was in fact a competition. Bush was speaking a lot about a new world order. I don’t know what he meant deep inside, but he spoke very strongly then, and this was the right choice, the right way. It’s because for decades there have been numerous conflicts and they were halted within a short period of time. They could not have been calmed for decades. They remained all the time. And of course, the Middle East remained. But this is such an open wound… But the rest went forward,” Gorbachev said.