Photo by the Moscow Times
Russian PM Vladimir Putin, who hopes to gain fresh terms as President after 2012, has reconstructed a story linking together the old Russian Empire, the USSR that succeeded it, and present-day Russia.
Thrusday Putin met former military officers and pensioners on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the 1991 dissolution of the USSR this December, and reflected on the unity of statehood in the history of his homeland.
"Is there any difference between the USSR and Russia? They are called differently, but in both cases you have Russia, a Great Russia," said the PM.
He further criticized USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev for allowing the dissolution of the Union, which according to Putin was "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the last century."
This has been a thesis that the Russian PM defended in his seminal October article announcing the future creation of an economic and political 'Eurasian' union in the former Soviet area.
"December 21, 1991 Gorbachev signed his repudiation of power. In the history of our country there has been only one such heavy moment - when the supreme authority of the Tsar repudiated its power, which led to the bloodshed of the revolution," said Putin Thursday.
Meanwhile, Russian media have published opinion of local politicians and researchers, according to whom other countries, such as Bulgaria and Serbia, should be also attracted into the future Eurasian Union.