
MOSCOW, September 30 – Novosti. The last Soviet leaders ruined Russia, put the people before the fact, not understanding the consequences, said Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“In 1991, in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, without asking the will of ordinary citizens, representatives of the then party elites decided on the collapse of the USSR . And people suddenly found themselves cut off from their homeland. This tore apart, dismembered our people’s community, turned into a national catastrophe,” – Putin said during a speech in the Kremlin following the results of the referenda.
“The last leaders of the Soviet Union, contrary to the direct will of the majority of the people in the 1991 referendum, destroyed our great country, put the people simply before the fact,” Putin concluded and added that he admits that those rulers did not understand what they were doing “and what consequences it will inevitably lead eventually.”