Russian Ambassador to Lebanon: Putin and I Believe the USSR Collapse Was a Catastrophe

In a November 13 interview with the Iranian Al-Alam TV, Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin said: "We in the Soviet Union - this is President Putin's view, as well as my own - consider the dissolution of the Soviet Union to have been a catastrophe."

Following are excerpts:

Ambassador Alexander Zasypkin: A Russian presence in the Mediterranean Sea – and this is the crux of the matter – is necessary. We consider it to be only natural. One way or another, it is a return to the days of the USSR, or even before that.

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We in the Soviet Union – this is President Putin's view, as well as my own – consider the dissolution of the Soviet Union to have been catastrophe, both for the Russian people and for the other Soviet peoples, even though there are differing opinions on this.

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