Gorbachev: Russia faces turmoil as Putin won't change

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Reuters:

(Reuters) - Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said on Thursday Russia faced turmoil because Vladimir Putin was unable and unwilling to carry out fundamental reform of a tightly-controlled political system.

Prime Minister Putin, facing the biggest protests of his 12-year rule, has tried to present himself to Russia's 109 million voters as a leader who can carry out gradual reform, after imposing order on the chaos of the 1990s.

But Gorbachev, reviled by many Russians for unleashing the bold reforms that helped sink the Soviet Union, said Putin's continued rule put Russia's future into question.

"I don't think he will be able to change course and I am saying we need a change of the entire system, not just handouts or sporadic steps," Gorbachev told students in a lecture at Moscow's International University.

"If he cannot change things and change himself, and I think that will be very difficult for him, then I think people will pour out into the streets."

The father of "perestroika" (restructuring) and "glasnost" (openness) advised protesters who have come out in their tens of thousands over recent weeks against alleged vote-rigging to ensure their demands were clear and to remain strong.

Protest leaders, a fragmented group of politicians, activists, journalists and bloggers, have called for a re-run of the December 4 parliamentary election which they say was rigged. Official results show Putin's party won 49.3 percent of the vote.

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Words of warning from the past?