MOSCOW, March 1 (UPI) -- Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev Tuesday expressed concern over the policies of Ukraine's new leaders, Interfax news agency said.
"That the people said 'no' to Kuchma and his entourage is absolutely clear. But what is the new team going to do? Have they started to re-divide property in their interests? If so, they will reap the consequences," the last Soviet president told a news conference.
Gorbachev also criticized Ukraine's unwillingness to build the Common Economic Space of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine, which he termed "the union of the four," Interfax said.
"This would be a very efficient union, because the countries that form it account for 80 percent of the former Soviet Union. But now a team has come up in Ukraine that says they don't know anything," he said according to the news agency report.
Gorbachev was also skeptical about the future of the European Union if it continues to enlarge, arguing the Roman Empire broke up at the peak of its development. "The European Union could admit some small country, but large countries like Ukraine -- that would be very difficult," he said, according to the Interfax report.
