© EPA-EFE/YURI KOCHETKOV

MOSCOW, may 8. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin reminded the leader of the Duma faction of the Communist party Gennady Zyuganov that “under the guidance of the Communist party of the Soviet Union has ceased to exist”.

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“Indeed, under the leadership of the Communist party of the Soviet Union, our country, the Soviet Union, has reached very great heights. And Gennady Zyuganov have listed many of them – space and nuclear shield and so on. Gennady Zyuganov did not mention only one: under the guidance of the Communist party of the Soviet Union ceased to exist,” said Putin, commenting on the speech by Zyuganov at the plenary session of the state Duma, where on may 8 was approved Medvedev’s candidacy for the post of Prime Minister .

Putin pointed out that “here, of course, have nothing to rejoice”. “No matter how it was – good or bad, but it is a historical fact. No one except the Communist party, whose role was even enshrined in the Constitution of the Soviet Union, was not among those who guided this process,” he said.

The President added that although the forces of influence on the process “from the outside it was a lot, but the Communist party was in charge, and, in fact, the hands of Communist party leaders, anyway, there was this historic event.”