“...It seems to me that it’s time to remove the halo of some kind of holiness, martyrdom and greatness from the figure of Gorbachev. This is an ordinary party worker who, due to circumstances, fell into history and contributed to the collapse of the huge Soviet state. It has nothing to do with the development of democracy and transformations. If Gorbachev had not existed, there would have been someone else. Society had to go through reforms. If Gorbachev had not existed, perhaps these reforms would have gone more successfully, more effectively.” R. I. Khasbulatov