“The reform of our enormous state indeed demanded decentralization and redistribution of powers between the centre and the regions. But the local elites tried to paint this need in the exaggerated colours of 'national survival.'”

—  Mikhail Gorbachev

It worked!
1990s, Memoirs (1995)

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Mikhail Gorbachev photo
Mikhail Gorbachev 65
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1931

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