Putin rebuffs Gorbachev 'advice' to step down

[ via Irish Times ] 27 Dec

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has rebuffed calls from former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev to resign in the face of growing protests against his rule, his plans to return to the presidency and his party’s allegedly rigged election victory.

Gorbachev advises - Putin rebuffs

“As a politician and a presidential candidate, Putin still has the support of a majority. And we should treat the opinion of a majority with respect,” said the premier’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.

Mr Peskov also rejected Mr Gorbachev’s call on Mr Putin to resign, saying: “The former leader of a vast nation, who presided over its collapse, is calling on a person to step down who managed to save Russia from the same fate.”

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‘Quit like me' : Gorbachev dares Putin

[ via The Times of India ] 26 Dec

Twenty years after he appeared on Soviet television to announce he was resigning as president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev has told Vladimir Putin it is time he took the same bitter medicine. 

After finally admitting that the state he had tried to save through his perestroika reforms had ceased to exist, Gorbachev on December 25, 1991 quit of his own free will. 

"I would advise Vladimir Putin to leave now. He has had three terms: two as president and one as prime minister. Three terms - that is enough," Gorbachev said, urging Putin not to pursue plans to run for president in 2012. "He should do the same thing I did. That way, he would be able to preserve all the positive things he did." 

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