Mikhail Gorbachv interviewed

Mikhail Gorbachv interviewed; ITN ITALY: Genoa: INT CMS Mikhail Gorbachev (Soviet Pres 1985-91) intvwd SOT (Translated): - If I'd wanted to preserve power for a long time, I'd have had to avoid real reforms in favour of cosmetic adjustments, which would have been unacceptable to me / Attempts to reform the country were already overdue back in the time of Stalin / I didn't feel my position was unsteady / Towards the end of 1990 public opinion polls showed there wasn't any rival to Gorbachev / Yeltsin was in 2nd place but he was scoring 6 or 7 per cent whereas Gorbachev was scoring 70 or 80 per cent / I do feel alarmed about future of Russia / Perhaps Yeltsin has been more destructive than creative / I haven't yet decided whether to be a candidate for next yr's presidential election / Russia threatened now because of the adventure in Chechnya & rise of mafia-like structures / These are the outcome of the Yeltsin regime, which must be changed / Shattered economy of this scale is also outcome of last few yrs / I aim to see a stable, democratic, self confident, peaceful Russia reborn in a framework of democratic nations / In Russia, both my supporters & my objectors want to hear my views CMS Snow handshake