File:Mideast Ukraine Gorbachev-05cbb.jpg

Горбачёв Михаил Сергеевич

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.. Yevgeny Fyodorov, a Duma deputy who belongs to the dominant United Russia party, told the Izvestia newspaper that the end of the Soviet Union had been a troublesome but unexamined issue for 23 years. The situation in Ukraine, he said, meant that the effects of the Soviet demise could no longer be ignored — a reference to Moscow’s assertions that Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine are under threat. An investigation, Fyodorov said, would shed light on “fifth columns” at work today.

“And, finally, this will give an impetus to national liberation movements on the territory of the former Soviet Union,” he said.

Gorbachev, a hero in the West for allowing the peaceful fall of the Berlin Wall, has not been so loved at home, with many people here holding him responsible for the loss of empire. But talk of prosecution was more than the former president, who has had periodic health problems, was prepared to tolerate.

He called Novaya Gazeta, a liberal newspaper he has helped support financially, and offered caustic comment Thursday on the investigation request.

“Since all problems in Russia have apparently been solved, only one little case remains,” he said. “That is to jail Gorbachev.”