JRL NEWSWATCH: “Gorbachev died shocked and bewildered by Ukraine conflict – interpreter” – Reuters
“Mikhail Gorbachev … [reportedly] was shocked and bewildered by the Ukraine conflict in the months before he died and psychologically crushed in recent years by Moscow’s worsening ties with Kyiv …. [Interpreter] Pavel Palazhchenko, who worked with [him] for 37 years … at his side at numerous U.S.-Soviet summits, spoke to Gorbachev a few weeks ago by phone and said he and others had been struck by how traumatised [Gorbachev] was by events in Ukraine. ‘It’s not just the … operation that started on Feb. 24, but the entire evolution of relations between Russia and Ukraine over the past years that was really, really a big blow … crush[ing] him emotionally and psychologically’ …..”