Ex-Soviet leader Gorbachev votes, comments on spy scandal

(18 Mar 2018) Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Sunday cast his ballot in the Russian presidential election. “My book has been published and it’s called ’I stay an optimist’,“ Gorbachev stated after casting his vote. Asked what he thought of a recent nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in Britain, he said “Horrible, disgusting“, adding “I don’t know whose idea it was, time will tell.“   In Sunday’s election Vladimir Putin faces seven challengers, but no serious threat to his rule. The only real question is whether voters will turn out in big enough numbers to hand him a convincing mandate for his fourth term - and many Russians are facing intense pressure to do so. Election monitors were reporting irregularities at voting stations across Russia, even though election authorities were under orders to ensure that the voting was free and fair after violations marred Putin’s last election in 2012. You can license this story through AP Archive: