December 25, 2021
11:48
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The Soviet authorities initially underestimated the scale of the problems in international relations in the Soviet Union and the need to reform it. The USSR could have been preserved even after the August 1991 coup with the creation of the Union of Sovereign States, the first president of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev said in an interview with TASS today, BTA reported.
“At first we underestimated the scale and depth of the problems with international relations, with relations between the center and the republics. We did not immediately come to the conclusion that the Union needed renewal,” the former Soviet leader said. According to Gorbachev, the Soviet authorities aimed to create “a real federation with real sovereignty of the republics that give the center part” of that sovereignty. “Security, defense, the transport network, the single currency, the guarantee of human rights under the draft union treaty were within the competence of the union structures. I am convinced that this was a viable option, most republics would support it, but” the August coup thwart this opportunity, Gorbachev said.
“However, even after the coup, when the republics declared independence and the positions of the president of the USSR were seriously weakened, I thought that the Union could be preserved. And I proposed to negotiate a Union of Sovereign States,” said the first president of the USSR. Gorbachev noted that the Union of Sovereign States would be a confederation characterized by broader republican competencies. “In particular, they would become members of the United Nations, and the Union would retain its place on the Security Council. The unity of the armed forces, the control of the nuclear arsenal would be preserved. I am convinced that it would be much better. from what happened after the collapse of the Union “, summed up Gorbachev, who resigned as President of the USSR on December 25, 1991.
