The referendum on the preservation of the Soviet Union, which took place 30 years ago, “was necessary and fair,” said ex-President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev. Interfax reports.
According to Gorbachev, the collapse of the Union was a violation of the “will of the whole people.” “The results of the referendum were not only interesting, but amazing: the overwhelming majority of Soviet people spoke in favor of preserving the Soviet Union,” Gorbachev told the Russian news agency.
He recalled that it was on the basis of this referendum that the Novo-Ogaryov process for the development of the Union Treaty took place: “The draft was fully prepared, and on August 20, 1991 it was supposed to be signed, but the signing of this treaty was disrupted by the coup of the State Emergency Committee.” p>
“This was how the will of the people was violated. The destruction of the Soviet Union was nothing more than a violation of the will of the entire people,” Gorbachev said.
A referendum on the preservation of the USSR took place on March 17, 1991, the issue of preserving the USSR as a renewed federation of equal sovereign states and republics of the former USSR was discussed. Out of 185.6 million (80%) of Soviet citizens with the right to vote, 148.5 million (79.5%) took part in the referendum; of them 113.5 million (76.43%), having answered “yes”, spoke in favor of preserving the renewed USSR.