RP: Gorbachev to Step Down as President of the Soviet Union

I just heard on the news that Gorbachev is retiring. The man has led the USSR since the eighties. He oversaw the end of the Cold War, the restructuring of the USSR itself in 1991. He essentially saved the Soviet Union from falling apart, though critics have claimed that the decentralized version that resulted from the Union Treaty did not bare much resemblance the USSR of previous years. According to all accounts, the favorite to replace Gorbachev is Russian President Vladamir Putin. Any thoughts on this?
 
David Bryant
US Assistant Secretary of State, European and Eurasian Affairs


My sources tell me there could be some strife and uproar from the radicals who want one of their own men in charge rather than Putin.
 
David Bryant
US Assistant Secretary of State, European and Eurasian Affairs


My sources tell me there could be some strife and uproar from the radicals who want one of their own men in charge rather than Putin.

You also have the the various leaders of the other Soviet Republic's who might take issue with the promotion of the Russian President to head of the Soviet Union as a whole. Then as you mention are the conservative communists, long enemies of Gorbachev since the late eighties/early nineties who have largely been held in check during Gorbachev's reign. There's a chance that some of them might want to add a greater amount of centralization to the Union, and basically undue 1991.
 
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