Putin reaction to protests 'shameful' - Gorbachev

Russia: The last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said Friday he was ashamed of Vladimir Putin and felt Dmitry Medvedev's career was finished by his refusal to find fault with Russia's fraud-tainted vote.

Gorbachev's rebuke came in an interview with the opposition Novaya Gazeta paper -- which he part owns -- on the eve of new protests over December 4 elections that the ruling party narrowly won despite dwindling support.

"This is shameful. And embarrassing. I, for example, am ashamed," Gorbachev said in reference to a television appearance last week in which Putin compared the white ribbons worn by Russian protesters to condoms.

"I feel tied to Putin in the sense that at first, when he came to power, I actively supported him everywhere -- both here and abroad. And now look." Former KGB agent Putin and Medvedev -- suspected of more liberal leanings when he replaced his mentor as president in 2008 -- have both dismissed the fraud allegations and linked protests to shadowy funding from the West. AFP