Gorbachev Declares He’s Pulling Strongly for Yeltsin to Be Successful

Former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev said in a report published Saturday that he cares more about the success of Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin’s government than he had cared about his own success.

In his first interview with the Russian press since he resigned in December, Gorbachev urged the preservation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which he initially opposed in favor of a confederation.

He was speaking to the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily newspaper in the first of a planned series of monthly columns on current events.

Corrections are also needed for Yeltsin’s radical reform program, he said. “I have a lot of doubts, but there still is a chance. I want the current government to succeed more than I want success for myself,” he said.

Meanwhile, the former Communist Party newspaper Pravda on Saturday accused the United States of behaving like “Big Brother” and said Washington is trying to stay ahead in nuclear weapons and remain the world’s sole superpower.

“America, which has won the Cold War, is ready to pay to remain the only superpower,” wrote Pravda’s veteran commentator Tomas Kolesnichenko. He criticized arms initiatives by President Bush and Yeltsin as attempts to stem a decline in their personal popularity at home.

Gorbachev also struck a cautious note over the balance of power in his interview.

“My partner and friend George Bush always knew how one cut or another would influence parity. I do not know if there is parity now. I do not know if the U.S. measures are adequate,” Gorbachev said.

On the Commonwealth, Gorbachev said his warnings about possible conflicts between its members had come true. He now views his main task as securing the viability of the Commonwealth.