Tensions between the major powers will push the world "on the brink of a new Cold War," Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said at an event Saturday marking the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, close to the city's iconic Brandenburg Gate.
The 83-year-old accused the West, particularly the United States, of "succumbing to triumphalism" after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the dissolution of the communist bloc a quarter century ago, according to BBC News.
The result can be witnessed in the current inability of global powers to prevent or resolve conflicts in Yugoslavia, the Middle East and most recently Ukraine.
"The world is on the brink of a new Cold War. Some are even saying that it's already begun," Gorbachev, whose perestroika and glasnost reforms helped pave the way for the Wall's fall, said while attending three days of festivities in the German capital to mark the event.
Specifically, he described the breakdown in communications between major world powers as "of enormous concern," blamed recent violence in the Middle East and Europe for today's increased tensions, and urged Russia and Europe to settle their differences over Ukraine, the Associated Press reported.
"Let us remember that there can be no security in Europe without German-Russian partnership," he said in an interview with Switzerland's RTS radio and TV network. "One sees new walls. In Ukraine, it's an enormous ditch that they want to dig."
Additionally, he claimed that NATO was no longer necessary but "wants to prove that it can save the world."
Gorbachev also echoed similar comments made by Roland Dumas, France's foreign minister at the time the Berlin Wall fell, Agence France-Presse reported.
"Without freedom between nations, without respect of one nation to another, and without strong and brave disarmament policy, everything could start over again tomorrow," Dumas said. "Even everything we used to know, and what we called the Cold War."
The main topic of concern, however, revolved around tensions between Russia and U.S over Ukraine since Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in March.
While Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Obama for meddling in Russia's affairs and causing the war in Ukraine by supporting "rabid nationalism," Obama voiced Gorbachev's concerns for Europe and blamed Moscow for the current tensions.
Paying tribute to the East Berliners who pushed past border guards to flood through the Wall on Nov. 9, 1989, Obama said in a statement Friday that "as Russia's actions against Ukraine remind us, we have more work to do to fully realize our shared vision of a Europe that is whole, free and at peace."
