Putin could potentially head up a huge Soviet bloc (Getty)
FORMER Soviet countries could be set to form a huge powerful bloc reminiscent of the USSER [sic], the former president of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev has claimed amid heightened tensions between Russia and the West.
Mr Gorbachev, who was the eighth and final leader of the former Soviet Union, has suggested countries within the former Communist republic could form a new union with an opt-in basis.
Reflecting on the collapse of the USSR in an interview with a Russian TV show to mark the 25th anniversary of its dissolution, the former statesman said: “I think that a new union is possible.”
Although he added that it would be “not the Soviet Union, but a new union state.”
He said: “It could be within the same borders and formed with the same states, but voluntarily.”
If Gorbachev’s “new union state” were to resemble the USSR, it could include the 15 former member Soviet Socialist Republics – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
The capital of the USSR was Russia, and if a similar leadership model were to be adopted, Vladimir Putin could extend his reach of power and take on the West.
The mountain speculation comes as the Russian leader squares up to Nato, having blasted the alliance as a “truly aggressive bloc” and stationed nuclear missiles in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.
Full article: New USSR: Vladimir Putin ‘to recreate HUGE SOVIET BLOCK’ in plan to DESTROY the West (Express)
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